Respect_The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz

Author:David Ritz [Ritz, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Famous, Autobiography / Women, Biography &#38, AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Composers &#38, Autobiography / Rich &#38, Autobiography / Entertainment &#38, Musicians, Performing Arts
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2014-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

20. HEY

While Aretha was praising God in James Cleveland’s church, she was also singing his glory on national television. On the same Friday night of the Amazing Grace recording, an episode of the network drama Room 222, shot a few weeks earlier, was aired in prime time. Although her speaking part was small, Aretha sang a stirring full-length version of “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” to people in need of rehabilitation.

In the dialogue within the show, a man watching her sing asked, “Is she a minister?”

“No,” answered a woman. “She’s not a minister, but she ministers.”

That same month, Time reported Jesse Jackson’s break from Operation Breadbasket to start Operation PUSH in Chicago. The article described Jackson’s split from other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference following Dr. Martin Luther King’s death. Aretha Franklin was mentioned among the “prominent blacks” helping Jackson raise $250,000 for his new organization. Others included Ossie Davis, Jim Brown, and Manhattan borough president Percy Sutton.

Aretha played the Apollo Theater in January, where she received a standing ovation for her one-hour performance, a benefit concert for families of the victims of the Attica prison riots.

On January 27, Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago. Over fifty thousand admirers passed by her casket at the Greater Salem Baptist Church. Her funeral, held at the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place, was attended by six thousand people. Aretha was there to pay tribute. She sang “Precious Lord,” the same hymn Mahalia had sung at the funeral of Dr. King.

“Mahalia represented the end of a glorious era that brought traditional gospel to the white masses,” said Billy Preston. “She was the reigning matriarch of that genre. Mahalia was also a purist. Aside from ‘Come Sunday,’ a religious song she sang with Duke Ellington as part of his Black, Brown and Beige suite, she avoided jazz at all costs. Clara Ward sang in Vegas, but not Mahalia. She wouldn’t carry gospel into a nightclub. She was the last of her kind. Some say that with her passing, Aretha assumed her throne, but that’s wrong. Aretha had already been crowned Queen of Soul, a category that included gospel—but much more. Mahalia wouldn’t have accepted the Queen of Soul title because soul sounds too street. That doesn’t mean that Mahalia didn’t sing with a blues cry in her voice. God knows there were jazz notes all over her style, but the story had to be religious. Even after Amazing Grace went through the roof, Aretha would never go the way of Mahalia. Aretha would never restrict herself to gospel. What’s really interesting about that, though, is that the black gospel community—both singers and fans—are insistent that you are either in one camp or the other. They don’t like their artists switching back and forth. Good examples are Little Richard or Al Green. They both tried to be as popular as gospel stars as they were in the R-and-B field but failed. Aretha’s the one exception. She’s accepted in whatever field she chooses to work.

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