Look at our past playlists and you'll see that we, like a lot of people, were big Aretha Franklin fans. Her passing last week was a very sad moment.
In addition to her string of hits, Aretha offered many things including a better world. Marcia pointd out in "The Queen is dead:"
Kat reviewed ARETHA SINGS THE GREAT DIVA CLASSICS-- which was Aretha's last studio album. Kat noted:
Being Aretha Franklin can be a lonely thing.
As Lady Soul, she's one of the gang, a highly talented member of the crew, but one of the gang. Elevated, due to her talent, to the Queen of Soul, she's suddenly the target of one pot shot after another and, since Natalie Cole's emergence in the early seventies, one artist after another has showed up eager to knock her off the throne.
When everyone's gunning for you, it's easy to turn bitter.
But Aretha's latest album demonstrates she's anything but.
Leave it to Lady Soul to honor her female peers.
That's Aretha. The Judy Collins of the world do albums saluting men. They claim to be feminists but they aren't. Aretha of "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" fame just did it because that's what you do when you're a leader.
Aretha recorded an album saluting women because, while she was the Queen of Soul, she was no queen bee. And that was another reason to love her.