Aretha Franklin (34 page)

Luther Vandross and Aretha Franklin performing together at Madison Square Garden. Aretha had been one of Luther's idols when he was growing up, and working with her was a dream come true.
(Photo: Epic Records / Mark Bego Collection)

Record producer Narada Michael Walden is responsible for some of Aretha's most electrifying music of the 1980s and 1990s. For Franklin's
Through the Storm
album, Walden (left) teamed Aretha (center) with that era's hottest new diva, Whitney Houston (right), to create the 1989 hit song “It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be.”
(Photo: Arista Records / MJB Photo Archives)

Peter Max not only designed the cover for Aretha's 1989 album, he also painted this rare photo sleeve for the album's title track: “Through the Storm,” which was a hit duet with Elton John.
(Illustration: Peter Max / Arista Records / Mark Bego Collection)

Aretha Franklin in white gloves and one of her trademark low-cut gowns. She hit high notes and had eyes popping when she performed at the White House before President and Mrs. Clinton in 1994. When she leaned forward to take a bow, she reportedly exposed an inappropriate amount of herself.
(Photo: Lisa Berg / PBS Productions / MJB Photo Archives)

VH1's 1998 Divas Live concert, broadcast from The Beacon Theater in New York City, was a prestigious event that placed Aretha in the center of the action. The star “divas” of that night were (left to right): Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Celine Dion, and Shania Twain.
(Photo: Mark Bryan Brown / Epic Records / MJB Photo Archives)

The Queen of Soul at B. B. King's nightclub in Times Square in New York City, June 25, 2004. Even after years of chain smoking, at the age of sixty-two Aretha proved that she still had the vocal power to belt out a song.
(Photo: Derek Storm)

Without a doubt, one of Aretha's crowning achievements was singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington D. C., on January 20, 2009. Aretha's performance was broadcast on giant screens all over the Mall in the nation's capitol, and on television around the world.
(Photo: Walter McBride / Retna)

Without a major record label behind her, in 2006 Franklin had recorded and “executive produced” her own album entitled
A Woman Falling Out of Love
, which she expected to release in 2007. It took her five years to find a distributor for it. When it finally came out in 2011, it failed to find an audience.
(Photo: Derek Storm)

Franklin at a Sony BMG Records party following the Grammy Awards, on February 10, 2008. That evening Aretha started a feud in the press with Tina Turner. On the telecast Beyoncé had introduced Turner as “the Queen” of rock divas. The Queen of Soul let everyone know she was not happy— because she was the only “Queen.”
(Photo: Smith / Retna)

Aretha loves to wrap herself in fur, and she adores dressing in décolletage-exposing form-fitting gowns like this one she wore in Los Angeles on February 8, 2008. that evening she was saluted as the MusiCares organization's Person of the Year.
(Photo: Sara de Boer / Retna)

Aretha lost eighty-five pounds in a month and a half due to her mysterious 2010 surgery. Determined to show the world that she was healthy, she made several public appearances like this one on TV's
The Oprah Winfrey Show
. A slimmer Queen of Soul (left), waves to the audience with Oprah (right) in Chicago, May 17, 2011.
(Photo: Grabowski / Retna)