Detroit residents remember Franklin, impact on city

To the rest of the world, she was the “Queen of Soul” — a woman whose strong and soulful voice could effortlessly jump multiple octaves whether belting out tear-jerking ballads or jump-and-shout gospel.

To residents in her hometown of Detroit who followed her more than 50-year career, she was simply “Aretha” or more personally “Ree-Ree” — the city’s favourite daughter, often singing at the Baptist church her father once led or headlining charity functions for kids or the less fortunate.

“She was a pioneer woman for Detroit,” said Myron Pullin, fighting back tears Thursday morning outside New Bethel Baptist Church after learning of Franklin’s death from pancreatic cancer.

“It really hurt my heart. I wanted to cry,” Pullin, 56, added beneath sombre, grey and swollen clouds. “Her music touches you, but her voice. Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, they’re beautiful singers, but to me, Aretha just stood out differently from all of them.”

Franklin, who died at her home in Detroit, had moved to the city from Tennessee as a young child.

“She was just special and she always came home and she always gave back,” Pullin said. “She really, really always loved Detroit.”

The feeling was mutual. Franklin is so beloved in Detroit that not one but two streets bear her name.

“Few people in the history of our city have been as universally loved or left as indelible a mark as Aretha,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. “From the time her father gave Aretha her start in the New Bethel choir, it was clear to everyone how special she was. She was a performer without peers. Throughout her extraordinary life and career, she earned the love — and yes, the respect — of millions of people, not just for herself and for women everywhere, but for the city she loved so dearly and called home.”