“Jump to It”

By the late ’70s, Franklin’s run of hits with Atlantic had petered out, but Arista’s Clive Davis eagerly signed her in the early ’80s. Things took a decided upturn when Davis hooked her up with singer Luther Vandross. The label chief asked Vandross to work up a demo for the Queen. The song “Jump to It” was born, and “she loved it,” Vandross told Billboard. “Then I got to [produce] the whole album.”The 1982 dance-pop single became Franklin’s first hit in eight years, and the corresponding LP her first gold album since 1976.

Franklin didn’t own a driver’s license, but that didn’t stop her from revving up one of the most danceable car songs of all time. “Freeway of Love” motored its way to No. 3 in 1985, becoming the singer’s biggest hit in over a decade. The horsepower came from her joyous vocal as well as the sax solo from guest player Clarence Clemons, who was then at the peak of his career with Bruce Springsteen. Providing extra oomph was the song’s producer, Narada Michael Walden, who, at the time, was also shaping Whitney Houston’s megahit “How Will I Know.” (The video for Whitney’s song includes a shot of Franklin when Houston sings the line “I’m asking you because you know about these things.”) The video for Franklin’s hit also became an MTV staple, aided by the appearance of an iconic pink Cadillac. The car became so associated with Franklin that when she died in 2018 more than 100 pink Cadillacs joined her funeral procession.