Presidents as one hail a singer who defined nation
BARACK OBAMA said Aretha Franklin “defined the American experience” and described her voice as a “glimpse of the divine”, as the former president led tributes yesterday.
Franklin, who died yesterday aged 76 at her home in Detroit surrounded by friends and family, had in recent days been visited by musical luminaries including Stevie Wonder.
Her signature song, Respect, became an anthem of the Sixties’ civil rights movement, and the women’s movement, and she herself called it a “battle cry for freedom”. One of her most memorable performances was at the inauguration as president of Mr Obama in 2009.
Mr Obama said: “Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade – our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hardwon respect.
“She helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful, more human. And sometimes she helped us just forget about everything else and dance. Every time she sang we were all graced with a glimpse of the divine.”
In a rare moment of unity Mr Obama’s comments were echoed by his successor, Donald Trump, who began a cabinet meeting by saying he knew Franklin well, and she had “worked for me on numerous occasions”.
He added: “She was terrific. She was given a great gift from God – her voice – and she used it well. People loved Aretha. She was a special woman.”
When Mr Trump said that Franklin had “worked” for him, he may have been referring to the opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York in 1997.
Franklin performed a private concert before the opening and Mr Trump was photographed with his arm around the singer.
They were also photographed together holding a $50,000 cheque for a performing arts centre.
Bill and Hillary Clinton called the singer “one of America’s greatest national treasures”. Her final performance was on Nov 7, for the Elton John Aids Foundation in New York.
Sir Elton called her death, which came on the 41st anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, a “blow for everybody who loves real music: music from the heart, the soul and the Church”. Sir Paul Mccartney called her “the Queen of our souls and a fine human being”.
Franklin lived most of her life in Detroit, the home of Motown, where she grew up gospel singing in her father’s New Bethel Baptist Church.
She went on to become the greatest popular vocalist of her time, selling 75 million records, winning 18 Grammy awards, and being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
Her other hit songs included (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Think, and I Say a Little Prayer.
Details of her ill health became public on Sunday. She had been suffering from pancreatic cancer for eight years and recently had been given hospice care at home. In the days before her death, Tim Franklin, her nephew, said: “She’s alert, laughing, teasing, able to recognise people. Family is there with her. She’s home.”
Clive Davis, a record company executive and family friend, said he and Franklin had planned a concert to mark her 60 years in showbusiness at Madison Square Garden, New York, in November.
A source told The Daily Telegraph that the singer had been working on an album with Stevie Wonder and on a project with Lionel Richie, before becoming unwell last year, raising the prospect that she may have left behind some unreleased music.
Franklin left behind four sons and her family called yesterday “the darkest moments of our lives”. In a statement they said: “We are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on.”
Her family said they would announce the funeral arrangements in the coming days.