Aretha Franklin (56 page)

When he was interviewed for the original edition of this book, Jerry Wexler spoke of all the recordings that he had produced with Aretha, which were still “in the can,” and unreleased. He spoke with fondness about Aretha being adventurous musically, like she had been on the Beatles' psychedelic “Fool on the Hill.” He also recalled always wanting to get Aretha and Ray Charles in the recording studio together and how he could never make it happen. However, it was Quincy Jones who held the honor by recording the only studio duet by Franklin and Charles. It was recorded for a Duke Ellington TV special in 1973, and the song was one of Ellington's compositions: “Ain't But the One.” Thanks to Wexler's 2007 compilation, both “Fool on the Hill” and “Ain't But the One” were heard by the public for the first time.

The album also contains eight never-before-released tracks that Quincy Jones had recorded with Aretha for
Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky).
One of the most interesting tracks from those sessions is her interpretation of Leonard Cohen's “Suzanne.” In earlier material found on this album, Aretha does her version of the Supremes (“You Keep Me Hanging On”), covers Bill Withers (“Lean on Me”), and tackles the Frank Sinatra songbook (“My Way.”)

While this was going on, Arista Records jumped to it with their own special Queen of Soul package:
Jewels in the Crown: All Star Duets with the Queen
. In her twenty-three years at Arista, Aretha had recorded her share of duet recordings, with the
crème de la crème
of popular singers including
George Benson (“Love All the Hurt Away”), Euthrymics (“Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves”), Elton John (“Through the Storm”), George Michael (“I Knew You Were Waiting”), Luther Vandross (“Doctor's Orders”), and Frank Sinatra (“What Now My Love”). Producer Clive Davis—who had by now returned to Arista—added these tracks to songs she recorded with some of the newest raft of recording stars including John Legend (“What Y'All Come To Do”), Mariah Carey (“Chain of Fools”), and Mary J. Blige (“Never Gonna Break My Faith”).

The
Jewels in the Crown
album featured a duet with Fantasia, “Put You Up on Game,” which was released as a single, and became a hit on Urban AC radio, hitting Number Forty-one on the R&B charts. Even more exciting than that, the song she recorded with Mary J. Blige, “Never Gonna Break My Faith,” was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Gospel-Soul Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.”

Jewels in the Crown
sold well and made it to Number Fifty-four on the
Billboard
album chart in America. On the R&B album chart, it peaked at Number Seven.

The 2008 tributes to the Queen of Soul began on February 8, when Franklin was honored as MusiCares “Person of the Year.” The MusicCares annual event is a record industry salute to a recording artist superstar who has lent their talents to charitable causes. As a charity itself, the MusiCares organization is one which provides a place for musicians to go for health or monetary assistance. And, at this particular event, Aretha Franklin was fêted in a grand fashion at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Amongst the people there to honor her were Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi as the latter day “Blues Brothers,” Quincy Jones, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, Bill Cosby, Corinne Bailey Rae, John Stamos, Sarah Brightman, Tony Bennett, Blair Underwood, Natalie Cole, Chris Daughtry, Beach Boys' star Mike Love, and legendary Motown producer and former Aretha producer Lamont Dozier.

Two days later, at the 50th Annual
Grammy Awards
, Aretha was awarded her twentieth Grammy Award, for the song “Never Gonna Break My Faith,” from the
Jewels in the Crown
album, her duet with Mary J. Blige. [This was her eighteenth Grammy Award for a specific song or album, but including her two “honorary” Grammys, it makes a full total of twenty Grammys for Franklin.]

Knowing that she was in the “winner's circle” that evening, and knowing that she was going to perform a special gospel number with a full choir amidst
The Grammy Awards
telecast, Aretha dressed to dazzle that evening. She wore a low-cut décolletage exposing yellow gown with spaghetti straps, draped with a long yellow / lime green / olive green flowing wrap of several yards of gauze.

She won her Grammy that evening of February 10, 2008, and was saluted as a huge star on the telecast. However, she got into a huge public “diva-like” feud with Beyoncé Knowles and Tina Turner over something that occurred during
The Grammy Awards
telecast.

What happened was that Beyoncé—in a short silver skirt—took the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and named several female superstars—including Aretha Franklin, and then announced, “There is one legend who has the essence of all of those things: the glamour, the soul, the passion, the strength, the talent. Ladies and gentlemen: stand on your feet and give it up for ‘The Queen.'”
(10)
With that, Tina Turner took the stage to receive a delighted gasp of recognition and a huge ovation from the crowd.

Beaming a huge smile, Tina Turner looked incredibly hot that evening in skin-tight silver lamé pants, and a low-cut silver halter top as she performed a song with Beyoncé. Apparently Aretha fumed from the audience. Although Tina at the time was sixty-eight, two years older than Aretha, Turner never lost her figure, or her ability to strut across the stage with the vigor of a thirty-year-old.

Aretha was seated in the audience while all of this transpired, dressed in countless yards of chiffon, waiting to do her gospel number later in the show. However, when she heard Beyoncé introducing Turner in the middle of the show as “The Queen,” Aretha—in her yellow gown—turned “green” with envy, and was getting “redder” with anger by the moment. Once the fireworks started, it became quite colorful indeed!

To throw some more fuel to the fire, Beyoncé was quoted by
Fox News
that evening as considering Tina Turner her “ultimate icon.”
(10)

Two days after
The Grammy Awards
telecast, Aretha issued a public statement. Fox News on-line headlined their story “Aretha Franklin Slams Beyoncé For Calling Tina Turner ‘The Queen' at Grammys.” The Queen of Soul proclaimed, “I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyoncé. However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy.”
(10)
She then half forgave the incident by stating, “love to Beyoncé anyway.”
(11)

When the Associated Press approached Beyoncé's camp for a statement, she declined an interview about the matter. So, Beyoncé's father / manager, Matthew Knowles, stated in an interview with
CelebTV.com
, “I am not taking something this ridiculous to Beyoncé. Beyoncé referred to Tina Turner as a ‘queen.' Not Queen of Gospel, Queen of Soul, Queen of Blues, Queen of England. I consider my wife a queen and sometimes call her that. Does Aretha have a problem with that?”
(11)
When the item was picked up by
The New York Daily News
, the story spread all over the internet.

Gary Susman in
Entertainment Weekly
perfectly summed up the event by stating, “Hell hath no fury like an R&B diva scorned, especially at the Grammys. First there was Natalie Cole opening fire on Amy Winehouse. Now, in a statement released Tuesday, Aretha Franklin revealed that she, too, was incensed at a young upstart: she didn't appreciate that Beyoncé, in her introduction of Tina Turner at Sunday's awards show, referred to Turner as ‘The Queen.' There's only one Queen of Soul, Franklin implied, and she was not amused.”
(12)

Matthew Knowles called Franklin's remarks “ridiculous … childish … [and] unprofessional.” Ouch!
(12)

Several months later,
The National Enquirer
headlined a story: “CLASH OF THE TITANS: Tina Turner vs. Aretha Franklin Feud Has Festered for Twenty-five Years.” According to that article, “While Arista Records president Clive Davis was masterminding Aretha's career comeback in the early 1980s, Tina came along with her smash
Private Dancer
album. Tina instantly surpassed Aretha on the charts, and she was furious! Aretha felt that Tina stole her thunder and she's never forgiven her for it.”
(13)

For quite some time Tina Turner remained quiet about this whole matter. By autumn of 2008, the “Queen of Rock & Roll”—Tina Turner— finally got into the fray, and Aretha and Tina Turner were at it again.

At the time Tina was about to launch a high-profile comeback concert tour. She was looking hot, and she was selling out concerts right and left.
Not one to mince words, Tina announced in the press that Aretha had a huge ego. When
USA Today
interviewed her about her return to the concert road, they couldn't resist inquiring about her battle with Aretha. According to Tina: “Aretha has always been like that. We've always accepted that from her. She's the Queen of Soul, and I'm the Queen of Rock & Roll. There were so many kings and queens there that night. Her ego must be so big to think she was the only one. That's how queens are!”
(14)

When Aretha read this in the September 30 issue of
USA Today
, she got in contact with the newspaper, and demanded that she get her say. They gave her the space to do so, and in their October 8, 2008 issue they headlined it, “ARETHA SPEAKS OUT: Aretha Franklin's Response to Tina Turner Statement in
USA TODAY
.” According to Franklin, “I have always appreciated what Tina Turner has to offer and had quietly cheered her on after Ike and her subsequent success. However, with respect to her statement concerning my ego (in saying, ‘Her ego must be so big to think she was the only one … that's how queens are') clearly she was talking about herself as she described herself as the ‘Queen of Rock' and saying ‘that's what Queens do'—particularly since she does not have a clue as to who I am in view of the fact that we have never met. I never figured her to resort to tacky press just to sell a few tickets. I understand and I know that the concert market is down where ticket sales are concerned. I really had put her in a different class—higher than that. Finally, no one has been more gracious or complimentary to their peers than I have and I am confident and secure enough to do so, unlike some others. I wish Ms. Turner all the best, as I always have. Perhaps one day we will meet.”
(15)

While all of this high profile headline-grabbing drama was transpiring, the year 2008 turned out to be one which brought further acclaim and honors to Aretha. On February 14, Franklin was given the Vanguard Award at the presentation of the NAACP Image Awards. On May 4, Franklin was given the Key to the City of Memphis at the 2008 “Memphis in May International Music Festival.” It was presented by Mayor Dr. Willie Herenton amidst her on-stage performance that day. In their September 13 issue,
Billboard
magazine ranked Aretha at Number Nineteen on their “
Billboard
Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.” And, in November, Franklin was named by
Rolling Stone
magazine as the Number One “All-Time Best
Singer of the Rock Era.” This honor was voted on by the publication's survey of 179 musicians, producers,
Rolling Stone
editors, and other music industry insiders.

With the exception of her two compilation albums in 2007 and her appearance on tribute albums, it had been five years since Aretha released a full album of new material. In late 2008, Aretha released her first official holiday album,
This Christmas, ARETHA
. It was originally released as a Borders Bookstore exclusive offering, however the following year it was released to wider distribution by the DMI / Rhino Records label. Several of the tracks are of the solemn and religious category, including “Ave Maria,” “Silent Night,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” However the most truly successful song is the joyous “Christmas Isn't Christmas (Without the One You Love)” which was written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, and produced by Tena Clark.

Aretha being Aretha, she cannot help but include at least one snippet of impromptu dialogue on the album, and a hysterical one-sided telephone conversation—a la “Jump to It”—with her gossiping and talking about two of her favorite topics: her family and food. We hear Aretha laughing about how she was not going to make her soul food “chitlins” as part of her holiday meal at Christmas, since they nearly killed her “last year.” Clearly, Aretha does have a fun sense of humor about herself when she lets herself go.

On the subject of food-related Aretha stories, one of the most amusing ones from this era came right after
The Grammy Awards
show. Celebrity photographer Charles Moniz was present at one of Aretha Franklin's concerts at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on February 16, 2008. He laughingly recalls, “For the opening of the second act of the show, Aretha returned to the stage, donning a Pink's Hot Dog stand baseball cap on top of her beehive hairdo. She then verbally carried on about one of the best things about being back in Los Angeles, was being able to go to Pink's for their famous hot dogs. She then proceeded to have several men come out on-stage, carrying cases of Pink's hot dogs, which they distributed to the audience. Not only did she share the hot dogs with the audience, but she herself ate one on-stage as part of her endorsement. She said that she had picked up nine Pink's hot dogs while she was there, but qualified it by explaining that she didn't eat them all at once!”
(16)

On a completely sad note, in 2008 two of the most influential men in Aretha's musical career passed away: Clyde Otis and Jerry Wexler. Both these men considered their work with Aretha to be amongst their greatest achievements. Their talents will be missed, but the music they have created will always be fondly remembered.

Without a doubt, the decade's crowning achievement for Aretha Franklin was her performance on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., for President Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009. Aretha was personally invited to the historic event to sing her expressive version of the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”