Aretha Franklin (25 page)

Suddenly, Aretha found herself receiving some of the most unkind press of her career. How could she be happy after stories like this one hit the newsstands? Desperate times called for desperate measures, and something dramatic had to be done to get her singing career back on course.

What “Dr. Aretha” needed now was a bit of musical healing, and it was producer Curtis Mayfield who was called in. In 1976 there was a movie in production called
Sparkle
. It was the story of three black teenage girls growing up in Harlem with dreams of becoming a world-famous signing trio (loosely reminiscent of the Supremes' story). The movie starred several talented black actors who were then unknown and who went on to become stars in the 1980s. The cast included Irene Cara, Lonette McKee, and Philip Michael Thomas. Cara became a star in the 1980 film
Fame
, McKee starred in the films
Cotton Club
and
‘Round Midnight
, and Thomas became a sensation on TV's
Miami Vice
.

However, when it came time to record the soundtrack album for
Sparkle
, Curtis Mayfield decided that instead of using the voices of the film's stars, he would produce an album of the eight original songs used in the movie, as recorded by an established singing star. The resulting album,
Sparkle
, recorded by Aretha, went on to become her first Gold album in three years, and it produced three hit singles for her.

When asked whose idea it was to use Aretha's vocals instead of the cast's, Lonette McKee replied, “Believe me, it wasn't ours. This was going
to be our big break. For all of us. But we were all so green and none of us had very good representation, and the deal they came to us with was very strange. I think I would have made about eight dollars after one billion copies had sold. I didn't know much, but I knew enough not to sign. But they [Warner Brothers] never came to us with another offer. The next thing I knew, Curtis Mayfield was giving an interview in one of the major black publications saying he couldn't understand how they could cast unknowns like Irene and Lonette, when they should have gone with black stars like Diana [Ross] and Aretha. He didn't want any of us. He made it hard, deliberately setting the keys of the songs in uncomfortable registers for all of us. And I guess his spite, coupled with Warner's lack of faith, brought about the soundtrack arrangement with Aretha. It was seen as a chance to appease everybody, and possibly to help the film. I don't think she [Aretha] was aware of the politics.”

When the
Sparkle
project was presented, Aretha was in the mood for a change-of-pace album. “Musically, I am just looking for ‘up' things. Who wants to be ‘down?' I'm just looking for happy things,” she said at the time
You
was being readied for release.
Sparkle
was the perfect album. There were no options for changing the arrangements, and there was no pressure for finding new material, as it was a “concept album.”

Curtis had made a name for himself in the movie business when he composed the score to the 1972 film
Superfly
. Although the movie was a slick “black exploitation film” about drug dealers in the big city, Mayfield elevated it to another level by creating some exciting music to underscore the action in it. The album
Superfly
had become a Number One Gold hit, and had created two Top Ten hit singles with the songs “Superfly” and “Freddie's Dead.”

The eight distinct and exciting songs Mayfield wrote for
Sparkle
crackled with emotion and crisp production. The
Sparkle
album was a departure for Aretha, and it was totally different than the music that was on the charts at the time.

In 1976 a danceable new electronic beat began to infiltrate the music scene with pulsing sounds. It was the beginning of the disco era, and several stars who had been creating hits alongside Aretha, jumped on the bandwagon and scored with disco records. Diana Ross' “Love Hangover,”
the Bee Gees' “You Should Be Dancing,” and the Supremes' “I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking” became popular disco hits, and crossed over to the pop charts. Instead of following the pack to the dance clubs,
Sparkle
took Aretha on a brilliant return to soul.

Since the film
Sparkle
took place in the early 1960s, the songs that Curtis Mayfield crafted had a rhythmic feeling reminiscent of early Motown, with the added dimension of a Philadelphia-style R&B horn section. The music had a gritty urban beat, and the finished product was aimed directly at the R&B marketplace that Aretha had been losing touch with. “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel” was sung with gutsy conviction, “Look into Your Heart” was a rich ballad with strings, and “Rock with Me” had a red-hot soul sound that was danceable without utilizing a disco formula.

The first single from the album, “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel,” became an instant Number One hit on the R&B charts, while peaking at Number Twenty-eight pop. The cuts “Jump” and “Look into Your Heart” also went on to become hits during the year. In December 1976, Atlantic released the greatest-hits album
Aretha Franklin: Ten Years of Gold
, tracing her hits from “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” to “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel.” A month later “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel” was nominated for a Grammy.

During the summer of 1976 there were rumors that Aretha was going to make her movie debut, working for the producers of
Sparkle
. An item in
Soul
magazine claimed that she was reading scripts for Warner Brothers. The project that was reportedly being discussed was a musical version of the 1933 Katharine Hepburn film
Morning Glory
. Aretha Franklin in Katharine Hepburn's role of stage struck actress Eva Lovelace? It was an interesting idea, but it was never to materialize.

Following her work with Curtis Mayfield on the
Sparkle
album, Aretha was to drift from record producer to record producer, looking for someone to continue the limitless magic that her career had once possessed. The 1960s musical approach on
Sparkle
was fine for one album, but she needed to find a viable contemporary sound.

Her next three albums for Atlantic saw her slipping to the lowest point in her career since she became known as the Queen of Soul. Each
of these albums had worse sales figures than the one preceding it, and Aretha's career was beginning to slip into oblivion.

To produce her next single, Aretha turned in a completely different direction, teaming with Marvin Hamlish, Carole Bayer Sager, and co-producers Marty and David Paich of the rock group Toto. All four of those producers combined to create one song, “Break It to Me Gently.” The resulting single only made it to Number Eighty-five on the pop chart. The song was included on the 1977 album
Sweet Passion
, and the rest of the album was produced by Lamont Dozier of the famed trio Holland / Dozier / Holland—who put Motown Records on the map in the 1960s by producing the Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, and the Four Tops. Unfortunately, this album was a disaster. Aretha's scat version of “I Got the Music in Me” is one of her all-time worst recordings. Not even Marvin Hamlisch's “What I Did for Love,” from
A Chorus Line
, had enough passion to carry this dull album.

At some point in 1976 Aretha had broken up with Ken Cunningham and found herself free and single. In typically “guarded” Aretha fashion, she never gave a public explanation as to why she had suddenly ended the affair. While she was trying to find a new direction on the music charts in 1977, Aretha's personal life took an upward turn. In January 1977 she was scheduled to appear at a benefit for underprivileged children in the Los Angeles area. The charity event was organized by Roosevelt Grier, as part of his Giant Step program. Aretha shared the bill with Ben Vereen that evening. Ben introduced Aretha's son Clarence to a friend of his, actor Glynn Turman. “My mother just loves you,” Clarence told Glynn. “Who's your mother?” Turman asked. “Aretha Franklin,” Clarence replied. With that, Clarence took Glynn to his mother's dressing room and introduced him. Almost instantly, Aretha and Glynn fell madly in love with each other.

Aretha invited Glynn to her upcoming thirty-fifth birthday party, and he invited her to come and visit one of the acting classes he was teaching. He came to her party, she went to his class, and the sparks continued to fly.

Four years younger than Aretha, he was twelve when he made his stage debut in Lorraine Hansberry's powerful play
A Raisin in the Sun
, with Sidney Poitier. He was one of the stars of the 1975 film
Cooley High
, Ingmar Bergman's 1978
The Serpent's Egg
, and the TV miniseries
Centennial
. Glynn had been married twice before he met Aretha, and he had three children from his previous marriages.

According to Aretha at the time, “There was something about him that was very gentle, but also very strong, and I was attracted to that. We began seeing each other, and I discovered a certain warmth about him—a real comforting kind of warmth that a woman feels for the right man. He was polite to me, a real gentleman all the time, and intelligent, articulate—all the things I really like in a man. I never told him this, but I used to kind of holler every time I saw him, because I thought he was so fine! Maybe it was his Aquarian personality that I liked so much. I read a lot about astrology, but I can tell you what caused me to fall in love with Glynn Turman had very little to do with the moon and stars!”

Although there was only four years' difference in their ages,
Ebony
magazine in 1977 included Aretha and Glynn in an article that was headlined “Older Women / Younger Men: A Growing Trend in Love Affairs.” Aretha retorted, “What is this business about me being an ‘older woman?' I want everyone to know that I'm a
young
woman with nothing but young ideas. There's
nothing
‘older' about Aretha!”

Glynn proposed marriage late in 1977, and Aretha accepted. They were married on April 11, 1978, in Detroit at her father's church. Aretha's gown was made of eggshell-colored silk, with a seven-foot train. It was trimmed in mink, covered with lace appliqués, and embroidered with 17,500 seed pearls. Glynn had a dozen groomsmen and Aretha had a dozen bridesmaids. The Four Tops sang the Stevie Wonder song “Isn't She Lovely” as Aretha walked down the aisle. Naturally, the ceremony was performed by Reverend C. L. Franklin. Aretha's four sons and Glynn's three children were in attendance. Aretha's sister Carolyn and her cousin Brenda each sang a solo at the wedding. Their wedding cake was a four-tiered work of art that stood several feet tall.

Actor Lou Gossett, who is a good friend of Glynn's, said at the time, “Glynn and Aretha are two halves of a circle. She's got guts and soul and he's got a disciplined, artistic temperament. They're very close buddies too, and that's an indication of a long-term relationship.”

They definitely had their differences as well. Glynn didn't smoke, and Aretha was up to two packs of Kools a day. He was a vegetarian, while
she exclaimed carnivorously in
People
magazine, “Give me a piece of meat every time!” However, for the time being this was just what Aretha needed in her life—romance.

At the time of their marriage, their children outnumbered them, three and a half to one. Her four sons, Clarence, Edward, Teddy, and Kecalf, combined with his children, Stephanie, Darryl, and Russell, made their household something like a black show-business version of
The Brady Bunch
.

When it was suggested to Aretha that the marriage might not work out, she replied defensively, “It's really hard for me to believe that anyone would be sitting around predicting all kinds of problems for us when they don't even know what Glynn and I are all about. Glynn is my husband, and we're not only very much in love, but we're very, very good friends. We both love and
like
each other, and the
like
part is very important, too. There will be no ‘family problems,' because
my
family and
his
family have become
our
family—just one big, happy, loving family. And everyone should understand that.”

Aretha and Glynn had already gotten involved in several projects together. They had filmed a French television special together in 1977, in which they sang a duet of “You Can't Take That Away From Me,” and dramatically performed the balcony scene from
Cyrano de Bergerac
, and he was encouraging her to make her acting debut in a film about the life story of Bessie Smith—which never came about.

Aretha's brother and manager, Cecil, said at the time, “She's as happy as she's ever been. She's not singing the blues!”

Unfortunately, what she was singing on record was very disappointing to her fans. Theoretically, Aretha's reunion with producer Curtis Mayfield on her next album sounded like a good idea. However, the resulting LP,
Almighty Fire
, was a complete mess. Although there were echoes of several of the songs from
Sparkle
, this album had none of the spark, and none of the fire.

The title cut, “Almighty Fire (Woman of the Future),” was characterized by Aretha shrieking on multiple tracks some nonsense about the year 2001. The music of this album all sounds very muddy and overproduced. Aretha sings most of the songs in a very shrill fashion, and none of
the material is the least bit interesting. The only song that makes any attempt at expressing true emotion, is “I'm Your Speed,” which Aretha wrote with Glynn. The only reason that it is interesting is that it is obviously their love poem to each other. The song is just Aretha—on multiple tracks—and a piano. Unfortunately, there is no hook and no chorus, so the song is directionless. This album did not turn out to be the sound of the future, at least not here on Earth. It was simply in a galaxy of its own.