Aretha Franklin (49 page)

Speaking of motherhood, in 1995 she did state without going into any specifics, “My children have been wonderful. Times when I have been down, they have lifted me up. But once they pass a certain age, their independence begins to kick in. And as a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war between the two. You have to learn when to let go. And that's not easy.”
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On June 20, 1995, the day that Aretha was performing at the Mud Island Amphitheater in Memphis, Tennessee, she was also being sued by Saks Fifth Avenue department store. Filing the suit on that date at the Oakland County Circuit Court in Michigan, the store claimed she owed them $262,851.15 for purchased merchandise. This event was to be the first in a series of publicly aired 1990s financial fiascos from the Franklin camp.

Aretha was on-stage in Cleveland on September 2, 1995, at the celebration for the official opening of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, along with Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Chrissie Hynde, Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Mary Wilson, Yoko Ono, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Celine Dion, James Brown, Gregg Allman, Melissa Etheridge, Jerry Lee Lewis, and dozens of other rock legends. She performed the songs “I Can't Turn You Loose” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” on her own, and the songs “Love and Happiness” and “Freeway of Love” with Al Green.

On the 29th of that month, Aretha sang at Madison Square Garden along with Gladys Knight, Kool & The Gang, and the Isley Brothers before a sold-out crowd of 15,174 people. It was billed as the “KISS-FM Classic Soul” concert, and was one of the largest live indoor audiences Franklin has ever performed before.

That same year, in a somewhat odd move, Aretha was heard on the album
Tapestry Revisited / A Tribute to Carole King
on the song “You've Got a Friend.” It is not odd that she should be included, since one of her most famous recordings is King's “Natural Woman” from this very same
album of music. The strange thing is that her performance is billed as “featuring Aretha Franklin” on a Bebe and Cece Winans recording of the song. Since Aretha is a hundred times bigger in stature than this pair of talented gospel singing siblings, they should be the “featured” voices on her song. Whatever the logic, the resulting track is a beautiful affair, with all three singers taking equal turns on this inspirational classic of undying friendship.

In another “featuring Aretha Franklin” appearance, the Queen of Soul was heard on a holiday album recorded by her Detroit buddies, the Four Tops. Entitled
Christmas Here with You
, Aretha sings on three of the tracks by her quartet of famous local Detroit friends. She sparkles with “The Tops” on the songs “White Christmas,” “Silent Night” and the title track. A joyously diverse album,
Christmas Here with You
marked a brief return to the Motown label which had made the Four Tops a household name in the 1960s. The album's Executive Producers were Tops' member Lawrence Payton along with Bill Dern. Each of the individual four members of the group produced their own favorite holiday cuts, giving the album a nice warm feeling throughout. According to Lawrence Payton at the time, “We couldn't have done it without her. Aretha's spirit permeated through the entire project.”
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The biggest-selling album Aretha Franklin has ever appeared on was the soundtrack for the hit “chick flick” of 1995,
Waiting to Exhale
. The movie, which was based on Terry McMillan's best-selling book of the same name, starred Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Divine and Lela Rochon. The album was produced by Babyface, and it included the
cremé de la cremé
of the female giants of 1990s R&B music, including Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Brandy, and Aretha Franklin.

Aretha's song on the
Waiting to Exhale
album is “It Hurts Like Hell,” written and produced by her new buddy, Babyface. Beautifully orchestrated, arranged and sung, it is soft and beautiful, with Franklin proving once again that she is often at her most powerful at restrained heartfelt ballads like this one. The diva simmers on this perfect ode to a love gone bad.

The reviews for the album were unanimously glowing. James T. Jones
IV in
USA Today
gave it four stars out of four, and praisingly stated, “This can't-fail 16-song soundtrack pairs the top R&B/pop female singers of the decade with Kenneth ‘Babyface' Edmonds, the ‘90s top songwriter. The eclectic line-up automatically makes this a classic, from big-throat divas Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan, to ‘new jills' Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Chanté Moore and Faith Evans … Franklin, LaBelle and Khan show they still have some of the mightiest pipes in pop.”
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The soundtrack album was handled and marketed like an important product all its own—apart from the movie. In a very real way, it was an event unto itself. In fact, it was more successful than the movie itself as far as critical reception went. The book was fabulous, and so was Angela Bassett in this movie. Although Whitney's acting was stiffly wooden in comparison to Bassett, the film was a financial hit at the box office, and the album was a smash from the word “go.”

From the very start, it was hoped that the
Waiting to Exhale
album would replicate the success Arista had with the Number One soundtrack album from Whitney's film debut in
The Bodyguard
(1992). The album was released on November 14, 1995, and the movie wasn't released until December 22. Being as, the
Waiting to Exhale
album hit Number One on both the pop and the R&B album charts, would sell in excess of six million copies, and be nominated for a Grammy as the “Album of the Year,” it was obviously a case of “mission accomplished.” It was also the first multi-Platinum album Aretha Franklin had ever appeared on.

According to tradition, for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta to begin, a torch had to be carried across the country to its destination, to light the main flame at the Olympic stadium, and officially begin the international games. On June 9, 1996, Aretha Franklin was one of the dignitaries on hand to meet and welcome the Olympic torch to the Motor City. According to her, “It represents so much for me to watch the torch come through here. It makes me feel proud that they're bringing the torch to Detroit.”
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By the time the torch reached its destination, it had been carried 15,000 miles and through forty-two states. Unfortunately no one thought of photographing Aretha with the torch, Statue of Liberty style. What a photo opportunity that would have made.

Also in 1996, Aretha was one of the featured stars to appear on the album
Songs of West Side Story
. The album found a varied roster of pop, rock and soul luminaries performing as “Sharks” or “Jets,” in this updating of a true Broadway gem. Michael McDonald, Little Richard, Salt-N-Pepa, Patti LaBelle, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Trisha Yearwood, and the late Selena are heard in this updated casting of
West Side Story
. On the album, Aretha is heard doing a nineties version of the song “Somewhere,” which she had originally recorded in the 1970s.

When
The Grammy Awards
were telecast from New York City in 1997, for the first time ever, they were held in Madison Square Garden. Not only was Aretha a presenter and a performer, but she was also one of the stars nominated for album of the year on the
Waiting to Exhale
soundtrack. It had been a banner year for Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. He also scored with the song he produced for Eric Clapton, “Change the World.” Due to all of the successful projects he was involved in, he was awarded the Grammy for “Producer of the Year” that night.

To properly represent the album on the program, several of its stars, including Lady Soul herself, performed a medley of the songs from the LP. Brandy kicked it off, singing her cut from the film, “In My Room.” She was followed up by Mary J. Blige and her song “I'm Not Gonna Cry.” Then, the star of the film, Whitney Houston came out to sing her smash song “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” which had entered the charts at Number One in America. She was then joined on-stage by Cece Winans, and they sang their duet from the album, “Count on Me,” to be joined in song by Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Brandy, and Blige. In spite of the harmonious ensemble singing that evening, ultimately the winning album of the year was
Falling into You
by Celine Dion.

At the Grammys that night Aretha looked great in a floor length, cream-colored gown with a sheer form-fitting draping of sheer silk. Her hair was short on the sides, and curly on top. According to one inside source, prior to the show Aretha was in a quandary as to what to wear. On a whim, she stepped into a bridal shop on West 57th Street, and purchased her beautiful dress right off the rack at the last minute.

Also that evening Aretha was one of the three superstar presenters to hand out the last trophy of the evening, for the “Record of the Year.” On hand to do the honors with Aretha were Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder. The winning recording was “Change the World” by Eric Clapton, with the award being presented to the performer and the producer, who in this case was Babyface.

Sony/Columbia Records in 1997 released the Aretha Franklin compilation,
Aretha Sings The Standards
, culled from her time on Columbia Records. It was quite a significant release, since none of the songs included on this excellent ten cut retrospective had ever appeared on compact disc. The rarest cut of all—from this glimpse of Aretha in her most middle-of-the-road mode from the sixties—is her jazzy version of “Moon River.” It never appeared on any of her albums while she was at Columbia, and only surfaced on a rare 1969 compilation called
Once in a Lifetime
.

That same year Rhino continued to forge ahead with repackaging Aretha's Atlantic LPs, adding the new compilation
Aretha Franklin Love Songs
to her growing catalog. All but one of the songs included on this album are also included on the
Queen of Soul
boxed-set. The song “If You Don't Think,” which makes its CD debut here. It was taken from her often overlooked 1974 album,
Let Me in Your Life
.

At the time, Aretha was busy working on a new movie role, and a new album, both slated for 1998 release. With regard to the LP, she told Kevin Ransom of
The Detroit News
, “It's like, ‘Wow!' I just love everything on it. It's both contemporary and classic soul, because I write from a traditional-soul mode, but I used contemporary producers.”
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Indeed, it was a rose about to bloom.

She even managed to fit in a driving vacation to Canada that summer. “I love to fish, bring it home, skin it, fry it and have a ball,” she laughed. “We went up to Rondeau Bay in Canada … The fish were small, but we had a good time. That is, until the mosquitoes ran us back into the car,” she laughed.
(13)

On a sad note, the Four Tops' holiday album that Aretha appeared on in 1995,
Christmas Here with You
, was to be the last one to have been recorded by all four of the Four Tops. On June 20, 1997, group member Lawrence Payton passed away. Days later, when his funeral was held, all of his Detroit friends came to pay tribute to him, and Aretha Franklin graciously sang at his funeral.

When Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in 1997, in the most infamous car crash of the century, the whole world mourned in unison. It wasn't long after her death that the record industry jumped in with their own tributes. After Elton John adopted one of his most famous songs, “Candle in the Wind” as a salute to Diana, and turned it into the biggest-selling single in recording history, a full album commemorating the loss of the beloved Princess became an inevitability. The resulting two-disc album,
Diana: Princess of Wales: Tribute
was assembled within several weeks, and featured some of the biggest names in the business.

Since time was of the essence, several international superstars donated existing songs from their catalogs which seemed fitting for this somber tribute. Barbra Streisand donated “Love Theme From
A Star Is Born
(Evergreen),” Paul McCartney is represented by “Little Willow,” and Eric Clapton contributed “Tears in Heaven.” Instead of representing herself with a prerecorded track, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, went into the studio and produced her own tribute to the Princess. The song, “I'll Fly Away” is especially touching. Backed by the Logos Baptist Assembly as her ethereal chorus, Franklin delivered one of the album's most heartfelt moments. She began the somber gospel number chillingly
a capella
, even announcing “We salute and pay tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales” at the beginning of the song.

On November 29, 1997, Detroit's first black mayor, Coleman Young died. He had been one of the most controversial leaders of the Motor City in all of its history. For twenty years, from 1974 to 1994, he had worked hard to turn around a city known for its economic decline. Aretha had been one of Young's strongest supporters, and at his funeral services, she raised her voice in song to praise his accomplishments. Dressed in a tasteful black dress, trimmed in white, and a black pillbox hat on her head, Franklin dedicated the song “The Impossible Dream” to Young's memory.

In February of 1998 Aretha was in New York City to attend several high profile functions. On Monday the 23rd, she was scheduled to sing an opera selection at a dinner honoring Luciano Pavarotti at a benefit for the music industry charity known as MusiCares. At the dinner, Aretha sang the aria “Nussun Dorma” from Puccini's opera,
Turnadot
. It was not an event which was open to the public, but the buzz around town was that Franklin's public operatic debut was nothing short of “awesome.” The following night she repeated the performance at an Arista Records party.

The 40th Annual Grammy Awards
, were held that same week, on February 25, at Radio City Music Hall. There was a lot of advance press on the event, heralding the fact that several special performances were to take place. In a very rare live television appearance, Barbra Streisand was scheduled to perform her duet with Celine Dion on the song, “Tell Him.” And Luciano Pavarotti was set to sing “Nussen Dorma” as part of the classical segment of the show.