Memphis soul veterans mourn Aretha Franklin
It’s fitting, perhaps, that the death of Aretha Franklin — and the loss of one of America’s great artists, musical or otherwise — came just as the city of Memphis was marking the passing of Elvis Presley. On Aug. 15, thousands held a candlelight vigil to remember the King of Rock and Roll. On Aug. 16, fans here and around the world mourned the Queen of Soul.
Franklin’s publicist confirmed the 76-year-old singer died Aug. 16 of advanced pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type at her home in Detroit.
Though Franklin’s physical presence in Memphis may have been short-lived — she was born here but moved at age 2, ending up in Detroit — her musical connection to the Bluff City was long lasting.
In fact, the whole history of Memphis music might have been radically altered had Franklin signed with Stax Records as she was once poised to.
“We had a chance to get her at Stax, and we blew it,” Stax songwriter and producer David Porter said.
As Memphis author Robert Gordon noted in his Stax history, “Respect Yourself,” in fall 1966, Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler called Stax owner Jim Stewart with an offer to take Franklin’s contract. Franklin had made eight unsuccessful albums for Columbia and been picked up by Atlantic, which distributed Stax.
Wexler felt a pairing between Stax and Franklin would be a good fit for both label and artist. The only catch: Wexler wanted $25,000 for her deal. At the time Stax was still a fledgling label, unaccustomed to putting up front money for artist deals. Stewart ultimately passed.
Soon after, the label would take on another Atlantic client in Sam & Dave, who would break out with hits written by Isaac Hayes and Porter. Porter was a friend of Franklin and her family. Franklin’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, conducted the services at Porter’s father’s funeral. In addition to her signature version of Otis Redding’s Stax classic “Respect” in 1967, she would go on to record several Porter/Hayes songs, winning a Grammy for her 1982 version of the Sam & Dave hit “Hold On, I’m Comin’.”
Porter said Franklin’s talents were more than just vocal, her sensibilities more than just rooted in gospel.
“She had a gospel component to her work, but there was another side, an emotional side that she controlled through her singing. She could take a word — a single word — and imbue it with so many degrees of meaning and shading, that it would connect with the listener and impact them directly. She was tremendously gifted in her word imagery talents. She could a create a picture any way she wanted.”
Porter added: “A lot of people can sing, but the level of artistry that creates an individuality that stands the test of time — there’s only a few people on the planet that can do that. And Aretha was one of them.”
Others in the Memphis soul world would form strong connections with Franklin in her lifetime. The late trumpeter and Royal Studios/Hi Records head Willie Mitchell, along with his brother, saxophonist James Mitchell, recorded and performed with Franklin in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Pops and Aretha were great friends,” said Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, Willie Mitchell’s grandson and Royal Studios owner. “He played horn on some of her records and Uncle James played horn on a bunch of them too. Pops had known Aretha since the ‘60s, and I think [Hi artist] Al Green used to open shows for her back in the early-’70s.
“She was one of a kind, definitely. She just had this huge personality and this huge voice. She was one of those artists that paved the way for so many women. Her songs, a lot of them, had a heavy gospel influence, which gave them this emotional depth that I don’t think people had experienced in secular music before then. Her songs literally could make you cry.”
Jeff Kollath, executive director of South Memphis-based Stax Museum of American Soul Music, said there’s often surprise when tourists find out Franklin was born in the heart of Soulsville.
“While Aretha was born in Memphis and mostly associated with Detroit, she can’t be pigeonholed in one place or with one type of soul music,” he said. “She did amazing work at Muscle Shoals [Alabama], and in New York City and at Criterion Studios in Miami. There’s only a few artists that are bigger than genre or geography, only a few so special that they transcend those things ... and she’s one of them.”