I want to rock the porch, and the pond, with music today, on the last Tuesday of Women’s History Month 2014, and can’t find a better way to do it, than to celebrate with the sounds of our Sister Aretha Franklin, on her birthday.
I feel like every period of my life, from my high school years till now, has had her voice as part of the soundtrack.
Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 25, 1942. She was the daughter of Barbara Siggers and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, better known as Rev. C.L Franklin, who founded Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit Michigan, when he and his daughters relocated there in 1948.
From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
Her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin, was the charismatic pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church, which he turned into a large and thriving institution. His services were broadcast locally and in other urban markets around the country, and 60 of his sermons (including the legendary “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest”) were released in album form. One of the best-known religious orators of the day, Rev. Franklin was a friend and colleague of Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and other key figures in the civil-rights movement.
On the musical side, some of the greatest vocalists of the gospel age were acquaintances and guests in the Franklin household. Aretha and her siblings – sisters Erma and Carolyn and brothers Cecil and Vaughn – grew up hearing the likes of Clara Ward (her greatest influence), Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland both in their father’s church and the family’s living room. From an early age, Aretha sang at her father’s behest during services at New Bethel. Her first recordings turned up on an album called Spirituals, recorded at the church when she was only 14. (It also included material by gospel singer Sammie Bryant and C.L. Franklin.) Spirituals was released locally on the J.V.B. label in 1956 and re-released on the Battle label in 1962. Aretha’s five tracks formed the basis of the 1964 album Songs of Faith: The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin, issued on Checker (Chess Records’ companion label), with additional material recorded by Franklin at services in other locales. In her autobiography, Aretha notes that some of it came from a performance at the Oakland Arena. As a teenager, Aretha accompanied her father on gospel bills and services as far away as California and the Deep South.
Although she was firmly rooted in gospel, Franklin also drew from such blues and jazz legends as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn as she developed her singing style. On the male side, she was inspired by Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke (both with and without the Soul Stirrers). From the emerging world of youthful doo-wop groups and early soul, Aretha enjoyed the likes of LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown, Little Willie John, the Falcons (featuring Wilson Pickett), and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Out of an array of influences both sacred and secular, Franklin forged a contemporary synthesis that would speak to the Sixties generation in the revolutionary new language of soul music. As Jerry Wexler, Aretha’s longtime producer, observed: “Clearly, Aretha was continuing what Ray Charles had begun – the secularization of gospel, turning church rhythms, church patterns and especially church feelings into personalized love songs.”
Young Aretha (like many of us her age) had a crush on Sam Cooke, who she got to travel with when he was still part of the Soul Stirrers.
After turning 18, Aretha confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960. Franklin was signed as a “five-percent artist”. During this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances. Before signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Aretha’s father to have his label, RCA sign Aretha. He had also been persuaded by local record label owner Berry Gordy to sign Aretha and her elder sister Erma to his Tamla label. Aretha’s father felt the label was not established enough yet. Aretha’s first Columbia single, “Today I Sing the Blues”, was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top ten of the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers chart.
“Today I Sing the Blues”
In January 1961, Columbia issued Aretha’s debut album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. The album featured her first single to chart the Billboard Hot 100, “Won’t Be Long”, which also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Mostly produced by Clyde Otis, Franklin’s Columbia recordings saw her recording in diverse genres such as standards, vocal jazz, blues, doo-wop and rhythm and blues. Before the year was out, Franklin scored her first top 40 single with her rendition of the standard, “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody”, which also included the R&B hit, “Operation Heartbreak”, on its b-side. “Rock-a-Bye” became her first international hit, reaching the top 40 in Australia and Canada. By the end of 1961, Franklin was named as a “new-star female vocalist” in Down Beat magazine.
Here she is performing “It Won’t be Long” on the Steve Allen Show in 1964.
1967
I know Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote this, and many artists, including King have covered it – but in my book, no one can sing it like Aretha did.
You Make me Feel like a Natural Woman
and her signature song Respect
1972
I can’t begin to count how many copies of this album I wore out.
from the album:
Amazing Grace is a 1972 live album by Aretha Franklin. It ultimately sold over two million copies in the United States alone, earning a Double Platinum certification.
As of 2013, it stands as the biggest selling disc of Aretha’s entire fifty-plus year recording career. The double album was recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles during January 1972. It won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance. The LP is the biggest selling live gospel album of all time.
Aretha Franklin’s unreleased 1972 Amazing Grace documentary trailer
In 2010, Variety Magazine wrote, Aretha Franklin’s 1972 album “Amazing Grace” outsold every other record she’s ever made. Some say it’s the greatest gospel album ever recorded. What few outsiders know is that the recording sessions on those two nights in January 1972, at L.A.’s New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, were captured on film by a four-man camera team headed by director Sydney Pollack.
More than 20 hours of 16mm footage – vaulted away for 38 years – are now being edited into a concert film that Warner Bros. once envisioned (curiously, in retrospect) as part of a double bill with “Superfly.”
And to this day, the doc is still unreleased.
1980
The Blues Brother’s movie introduced her to whole new audiences, when she sang “Think” and her classic R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
1985
Surprising many folks was this feminist tribute performed with Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics.
Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves – Aretha and the Eurythmics
The same year she took us zoomin’ on the Freeway.
1998
Aretha wound up as a surprise guest, stepping in for Pavarotti at the Grammy’s
Twenty two minutes after she was asked to cover for her ailing friend, Luciano Pavarotti, Aretha Franklin takes the stage to perform the legendary aria “Nessun Dorma”, a piece she sang previously a few days earlier (in her own register, I might add), without changing Pavarotti’s key – which is no minor achievement. It begets one of the most extraordinary musical moments in awards show history. It brought the audience to a thunderous ovation.
2006
At the funeral for Luther Van Dross she sings “Amazing Grace”, preaches and calls down the spirit.
2009
At President Obama’s Inauguration, she was simply amazing, and her hat, from the true black church ladies tradition wound up with its own facebook page
Her awards list is long. But for many of us, the best one is the reward we receive listening to her.
Happy birthday Aretha, from all of us.
Sing on!
Cross posted from Black Kos
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