Entertainment
America’s Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, Bows Out at 76
Though the news of her death did not come to many as surprise it nonetheless elicited emotional breakdown from as many that knows the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
Franklin, noted for her ‘gospel-rooted singing and bluesy yet expansive delivery’ earned her the title “the Queen of Soul,” died in the early hours of Thursday, August 16, 2018 at the age of 76 in her home in Detroit, USA.
She was surrounded by family and friends, according to a statement on behalf of Franklin’s family from her longtime publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn.
The “official cause of death was due to advanced pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin’s oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit,” the family statement said.
In his tribute to a woman who drew tears from his eyes with her wonderful sonorous voice, the immediate past president of the United States of America, Mr. Barak 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 hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace.”
For legendary soul singer and Franklin’s friend of more than sixty years, Sam Moore, it was words of sorrow and comfort to offer.
“I adored her and I know the feelings were mutual. While I’m heartbroken that she’s gone I know she’s in the Lord’s arms and she’s not in pain or suffering anymore from the damn cancer that took her away from us,” he said in a statement. “I’m going to hope, pray and count on the fact that I will see her again sometime. Rest in the Lord’s arms in love, Re.”
Franklin’s fans paid tribute with flowers and a crown left on her Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Los Angeles.
The statement that announced her death read:
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, 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. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds,” Franklin’s family said.
“We have been deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from close friends, supporters and fans all around the world. Thank you for your compassion and prayers. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days, the statement said.
Her final public performance was last November, when she sang at an Elton John AIDS Foundation gala in New York.
Over the course of a professional career that spanned more than half a century, Franklin’s songs not only topped the charts but became part of the vernacular.
She made “Respect,” written by Otis Redding, a call to arms. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” a Carole King song, was an earthy expression of sexuality. “Think,” which she wrote with her then-husband, Ted White, became a rallying cry for women fed up with loutish men.
The first woman admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she had 88 Billboard chart hits during the rock era, tops among female vocalists. At the peak of her career — from 1967 to 1975 — she had more than two dozen Top 40 hits.
She won 18 Grammy awards, including the honor for best female R&B performance for eight straight years.
“I think of Aretha as ‘Our Lady of Mysterious Sorrows,'” wrote the late Jerry Wexler, Franklin’s producer at Atlantic Records. “Her eyes are incredible, luminous eyes covering inexplicable pain. Her depressions could be as deep as the dark sea. I don’t pretend to know the sources of her anguish, but anguish surrounds Aretha as surely as the glory of her musical aura.”
She finally gave up the ghost three days after she was said to be critically ill, ending a prolific career of entertainment laced in very deep soulful voice.
Goodnight Aretha!
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