Aretha Franklin (51 page)

Although the plot of this two hour plus movie is mainly far-fetched and silly, the musical numbers are wonderfully exciting. Especially prime is the Blues Brothers Band (including Steve Cropper, and Donald “Duck” Dunn) performing a sizzling “Funky Nassau” with Erykah Badu, Paul Shaffer, and Joe Morton. John Landis, who is also known for directing Michael Jackson's classic “Thriller” video, proves once again that he is excellent at staging and filming musical numbers. The “Battle of the Bands” competition at the end pits the successfully reformed Blues Brothers Band against an ensemble billed as “The Louisiana Gator Boys.” As the camera pans across the two dozen musicians on-stage, it reveals the Gator Boys in fact to be a jaw-dropping all-star troupe including B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Billy Preston, Clarence Clemons, Joshua Redman, Travis Tritt, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (of Doobie Brothers fame), Charlie Musselwhite, Issac Hayes, Jimmy Vaughan, Steve Winwood, Grover Washington Jr., Dr. John, and Lou Rawls.

Over the credits at the end of the film, the song “New Orleans” is used to give all of the aforementioned Gator Boys, and the other stars of the film each a line of the festive Mardi Gras fête of a rock number. In it Aretha is seen and heard scatting an impromptu line of the song, as are solo lines by Badu, and the entire rest of the cast—including the group Blues Traveler, Steve Lawrence as the band's agent, and Kathleen Freeman as the mean-spirited nun who raised the orphaned Elwood Blues.

In 1998 Aretha Franklin was busily having her most high profile year
of the decade. The idea of teaming up five of the hottest women in the pop and rock fields into an all-divas special, was a brilliant one which blossomed into one of the Top Ten most popular television events of the entire year. Every gamut was covered by teaming five superstars: Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, and Aretha Franklin. Adding in Carole King towards the end of the show made for an even better balance in this one-night-only New York City concert. In addition to unfolding into an unforgettable live event,
VH1 Divas Live
also yielded a great television special.

The
Divas
special itself was more than a mere concert event. It also benefited ninety-one music programs in New York City public schools. VH1 and its owner, Time Warner Cable, used it as a vehicle to raise and donate $1 million worth of musical instruments to badly needed music programs. Amid the telecast, both Mariah Carey and Shania Twain sang the program's praises for its ability to keep music students in public schools focused on their studies. It has also been proven that music students excel at mathematics, as the writing and reading of music opens up a number-based way of thinking, hearing, and calculating.

The evening also featured several female media stars introducing the five starring “divas.” Aretha's segment of the show was introduced by screen actress Susan Sarandon. Aretha opened her set with “A Rose Is Still a Rose.” She then introduced “my newest girlfriend,” Mariah Carey, who proceeded to sing the Aretha classic, “Think,” as a duet with the Queen of Soul.
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Talkative, and obviously having a good time on the show, which was broadcast live from the Beacon Theater in New York City, Franklin announced that it was her son Teddy who was playing guitar behind her.

Although Aretha looked as large-as-ever in size, she was fabulously dressed. She had her hair up on top of her head, held in place with a gold lamé wrap. She wore a loose fitting white pant suit and a long flowing white jacket. Under the open jacket she wore a bright yellow top beaded with pearls.

At all of her events that year, Aretha sported a classy new look which made her look better than ever before. The last song she sang that evening in her three-song set was her new single, “Here We Go Again.”

The way the hour-long show was structured, it gave each of the five “divas” their own brief sets, and then the end of the program was reserved for ensemble numbers. Celine Dion, who followed Aretha on the bill, brought something new to the show, by introducing singer/songwriter Carole King to sing a duet with her. The inclusion of King into the mix was an excellent choice. It blossomed into a true all-star version of “You've Got a Friend” with Estefan, Twain and Dion joining Carole, who sat and played the song on a grand piano.

What could be more fitting than to have Aretha come out and join Carole on the King composition that had become Franklin's signature tune—”(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” For her second entrance, Aretha was very tastefully attired in a long black dress, and a black spangled cloth tied in her hair.

It was kind of amusing to see five out of six of the “divas” either in gowns or pants, and Mariah in a scene-stealing flesh-revealing mini-dress halfway up her thighs. For a refreshing change of pace, it was Aretha who was tastefully and beautifully attired, and someone else looking inappropriate in a silly outfit. According to inside sources, it was Clive Davis himself who monitored Aretha's wardrobe choices that evening. Judging by her recent past, left to her own devices, heaven knows what low-cut nightmare she may have chosen to wear.

In the finale, the other women on-stage, basically deferred to Aretha, although they all took turns on lines of the song. At the end of “Natural Woman,” Aretha announced to her band, “Ok, take it on home.”
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With that, she launched into her gospel song “Testimony.” Unfortunately, the other divas didn't quite know what to do, so they each got caught up in the spirit and danced on-stage, while the Queen took the proceedings to church. Mariah Carey stood stiffly by, while the other five female singing stars danced to the music and they let Franklin take over the vocal proceedings.

The show, which was already running several minutes late, rolled credits while the on-stage gospel singing was very much still underway. Fabulously, the entire concert was not only a live television special, but it was also recorded and released as a CD, and as a video cassette and DVD. However, for whatever reason, both the CD and the audio-visual versions omitted Aretha's two new songs—”A Rose Is Still a Rose” and “Here We
Go Again.” Perhaps Arista Records president Clive Davis wanted everyone to go and buy Aretha's new album if they wanted to own a copy of those cuts. Regardless, the album was a huge success, which went Gold and promoted all of the “divas,” who were shown off in all their glory.

Aretha was suddenly big news again, and everybody was talking about her. As Brian McCollum simply put it in
The Detroit Free Press
by proclaiming, “She stole the show from a stage full of stars at VH1's
Diva's Live
.”
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The
Diva's
show was such a hit that
The New York Times
even ran a story about it on the cover of its “Arts & Leisure” section, entitled “As The Categories Blur, One Diva Clearly Rules,” by Albert Innuarato. Although he surveyed several “divas” from drag queen RuPaul, to bona fide operatic divas, the article proclaimed that the 1990s crown for top diva belonged to Aretha. According to Innuarato, “Time was, when divas were as innumerable as dinosaurs. They devoured one another for real, without animatronics. Today there is only one true diva, and she does not stalk opera houses. Aretha Franklin has created what can only be called gospel bel canto. Proof that Ms. Franklin is of the blood came on the
Diva's Live
telecast last month on VH1. She proceeded to eat six other female pop stars, including Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain and Celine Dion as though they were Cream of Wheat.”
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Of her less-than-svelte physical weight, the article gasped, “Like any true diva, Ms. Franklin is huge. She wore pants, white pants. Not even Montserrat Caballé in her prime would have dared.” It also pointed out that the word “diva” is from Italian, and means “goddess.” Innuarato also pointed out officially, “Ms. Franklin returned the term to its true meaning on the Grammy telecast in February.”
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Aretha's son Teddy White, Jr., whom Franklin introduced to the crowd during the
Diva's
TV taping, had been playing guitar behind his mother for the majority of the 1990s. He had also launched his own performing career, changing his name from Teddy White Jr. to Teddy Richards. His guitar work can be heard on his mother's recordings of “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” “You Can't Take Me for Granted,” and “The Woman” from the
Rose
album—where he is billed as Teddy Franklin. Recently launching his own performing career in alternative rock, he was shocked one night when he
arrived at a club in Port Clinton, Ohio. Speaking of the outdoor marquee he found when he arrived, he claims it read, “‘Tonight: Aretha Franklin's Son,' and in little tiny letters it said, ‘Teddy Richards.'” Although he was getting a boost from playing with his mother's band, Teddy was happy to find his own way in the music industry. According to him, “She's proud of what I'm doing, and proud that I'm not tugging on her skirt.”
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In 1998 Rhino Records continued their quest to rethink and repackage the wealth of music they had in the Aretha Franklin catalog from her Atlantic years. The album
The Delta Meets Detroit: Aretha's Blues
was compiled by Norma Edwards, and offers a thoughtful smorgasbord of the best of Franklin's blues tinged-performances. Alongside such delicious songs as “Nighttime Is the Right Time,” “Drown in My Own Tears,” and “Going Down Slow,” is a rare recording which finally makes its debut on any of Aretha's albums. The song “Takin' Another Man's Place” was originally recorded on May 26, 1969, the same week she recorded “Honest I Do” for her
This Girl's in Love With You
album. For some reason, it was never released until 1986 when it appeared on an obscure compilation called
Atlantic Blues Vocalists
. It was produced by Jerry Wexler, and was written by Detroit blues legend Mabel John.

Following suit, Columbia Legacy records released the compilation album
Aretha Franklin: This Is Jazz #34
in 1998. As part of their repackaging tribute albums to several of the label's biggest jazz legends, this sixteen cut disc explored Franklin's early ‘60s jazz era. Most of her best jazz cuts are here—including “Skylark,” “Drinking Again,” “Trouble In Mind” and “This Bitter Earth”—along with some rarely heard numbers including “Over the Rainbow” and her version of “Ain't Necessarily So.” In England, Global Television & Warner Brothers Records released a two disc compilation called
Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits
, which drew together 31 of her biggest British hits from both Atlantic Records and Arista, in non-chronological order. This album fascinatingly juxtaposes Aretha's biggest recordings from the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties.

That same year, another rare Aretha gem from the Columbia days, a 1964 recording of “Winter Wonderland,” found its way onto the Arista album
Ultimate Christmas
. It is heard next to such Yuletide standards as Bing Crosby's “White Christmas,” Nat King Cole's “The Christmas Song,” Eartha Kitt's “Santa Baby,” Elvis Presley's “Blue Christmas” and Luciano Pavarotti's “Cantique De Noel (Oh Holy Night),” so she is in stellar company. Aretha sounds perky and exuberant on this holiday ode to snow arranged and conducted by Belford C. Hendricks.

In a theatrical setting, Aretha's 1993 “Inaugural Performance” of the song “I Dreamed a Dream” from
Les Miserables
was included on Arista's highly successful
Ultimate Broadway
. While the majority of the cuts were compiled from “original cast” recordings, some pop versions of songs were used in their place. Falling in this category is Judy Collin's hit recording of “Send in the Clowns” from
A Little Night Music
as opposed to using the song's original by Glynis Johns. Some theater purists balked at the idea that Aretha's optimistic version of this powerful show stopper be used on this album, instead of the one by Patti LuPone, who first recorded the song on the London cast album. It is however, a feather in Franklin's cap to be included in such outstanding company as Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli, and Julie Andrews.

With the turn of the century approaching, in 1998 the editors of
Time
magazine tallied their list of “The 100 Most Important People Of The 20th Century.” The list included several inventors and statesmen, and twenty artists and entertainers. On that list was none other than Aretha Franklin. Indeed, it was already being acknowledged that her voice and her talent have helped to shape the world of the 1900s. Also on that list of creative people were the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, James Joyce, Coco Chanel, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Henson, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Chaplin.

Although it was a triumphant year for Aretha, it was not without its bumpy moments along the way. On June 11, 1998 Aretha's youngest son, Kecalf Franklin, was sentenced in Oakland County Circuit Court for the possession of cocaine. While his mother quietly looked on from her seat in the courtroom, he received eighteen months probation, narrowly escaping a jail term. Under Michigan State law, he could face up to four years in prison.

The incident which prompted this, took place on Kecalf's 28th birthday, March 4, 1998, when he was stopped by the police on Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills, for having a faulty brake light on his vehicle.
Come to find out, he was driving with a driver's license which had been suspended in 1996, due to violations. This made him eligible for a search. In his sock the police officers discovered “three rocks of cocaine.”
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According to Judge Rudy Nichols at the time of his sentencing, “I told him he has family members that care for him, and that this is his chance to straighten out and avoid more legal difficulties.”
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Aretha left the courtroom through a back door to avoid the press, for whom she had no comment.