Singer Aretha Franklin to rest in gold casket
The music icon, 76, died from advanced pancreatic cancer on August 16 Relatives wanted to give the Queen of Soul a send- off matching her legacy Fans line up overnight to honour legend wearing red cocktail dress, stilettos
Detroit, Aug. 28: Fans lined up overnight to pay their respects to the late Aretha Franklin and got a glimpse of the legendary singer as she lay in her gold casket wearing a red cocktail dress and matching shiny red stilettos on Tuesday.
The music icon died from advanced pancreatic cancer on August 16. She was 76.
The Queen of Soul’s body arrived in a shining gold casket at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in her Detroit, Michigan, hometown on Tuesday morning for the start of her two- day public viewing.
Franklin was transported to the museum in a vintage white LaSalle, passing by as many as 200 of her fans who had slept on the sidewalk and were already lined up to be among the first to pay their respects to the singer.
Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Owens, said Tuesday that she and others who helped plan a public viewing in Detroit wanted to give the Queen of Soul a send- off that ‘ would match her legacy.’
Owens noted that the pastel roses surrounding Franklin's gold- colored casket reflected the singer's love for the flower and her propensity to send arrangements ' in grand fashion.' Franklin was dressed in red to symbolize her membership in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Owns said that dress looked like ' something she would have selected for herself' to wear on stage.
Franklin’s gospel recordings played in the background as mourners paying their respect approached her casket, pausing as they cried, crossed themselves, bowed their heads or blew kisses to the late singer.
— Agencies