The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait
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About this ebook
Reflections on the life of Aretha Franklin captured in exclusive photographs by her friend, photojournalist Linda Solomon.
"Aretha was private. I respected this and she trusted me." Linda Solomon met Aretha Franklin in 1983 when she was just beginning her career as a photojournalist and newspaper columnist. Franklin's brother and business manager arranged for Solomon to capture the singer's major career events—just as she was coming back home to Detroit from California—while Franklin requested that Solomon document everything else. Everything. And she did just that. What developed over these years of photographing birthday and Christmas parties in her home, annual celebrity galas, private backstage moments during national awards ceremonies, photo shoots with the iconic pink Cadillac, and more was a friendship between two women who grew to enjoy and respect one another.
The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait is a book full of firsts as Solomon was invited not only to capture historical events in Aretha's music career showcasing Detroit but to join in with the Franklin family's most intimate and cherished moments in her beloved hometown. From performance rehearsals with James Brown to off-camera shenanigans while filming a music video with the Rolling Stones, from her first television special to her first time performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to her last performance with her sisters at her father's church and her son's college graduation celebration. In the book's afterword, Sabrina Vonne' Owens, Franklin's niece, honors her aunt, a woman who was an overwhelming supporter of civil rights, women's rights, and fundraising campaigns that helped to benefit her hometown. There was a time in her career—when Franklin was more in demand than ever before—when she insisted that if someone wanted her to perform, they had to come to Detroit. During this time all of her major concerts, national television specials, music videos, and commercials would happen in Detroit. Aretha Franklin showed her respect for the people in the city who championed her from the very beginning when she started singing as a young girl in the church choir.
Franklin used to say, "I am the lady next door when I am not on stage." The Queen Next Dooroffers fans a personal and unseen look at an extraordinary woman in her most natural moments—both regal and intimate—and highlights her devotion to her family and her hometown Detroit—"forever and ever."
Linda Solomon
Linda Solomon is an award-winning photojournalist who divides her time between capturing the most famous personalities of our time and teaching children to express themselves through photography. She has developed educational programs that have reached over two million children throughout the United States. Her work providing cameras has been featured on CBS Evening News, and in People and USA Today.
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The Queen Next Door - Linda Solomon
THE QUEEN NEXT DOOR
The Queen Next Door
Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait
LINDA SOLOMON
Foreword by
BURT BACHARACH
Afterword by
SABRINA VONNE’ OWENS
Copyright © 2019 by Linda Solomon. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. Manufactured in the United States of America.
Cover design and interior book design by Amanda Weiss
ISBN 978-0-8143-4728-7 (hardback);
ISBN 978-0-8143-4729-4 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019938101
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Leonard N. Simons Building
4809 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48201–1309
Visit us online at wsupress.wayne.edu
For Barry . . . always and forever
To my mom and best friend, Mona Rappaport, whose extraordinary memory for every detail of my life helped me select the most special times with Aretha.
To my dad, Daniel J. Rappaport, a blessed memory, whose respect
and love for music is my inspiration.
In loving memory of Erma Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Reverend Cecil Franklin, and our Queen Aretha Franklin, who gave her heart and her soul to Detroit. My admiration, gratitude, and R E S P E C T forever and ever . . .
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
1983: April
Singing at the Piano . . .
1983: May
The Franklin Family at the Mayor’s Residence
1984: June
Aretha’s Heartfelt Concert
1985: April
Helping Others
1985: August
Recording with Motown Stars
1985: September
Standing-Room Only Concerts
1985: October
Detroit Institute of Arts Benefit
1985: December
Christmas at Home
1986
Michigan’s Precious Natural Resource
1986: January
Live Backstage at the American Music Awards
1986: February
Pink Cadillac
1986: May
Aretha, Showtime Special
1986: June
College Graduation Party
1986: July
Aretha and the Rolling Stones
1986: November
Honored by the United Negro College Fund
1987: January
The Queen of Soul and the Godfather of Soul!
1987: July
Aretha’s Hope
1987: July
New Bethel Baptist Church Live Recording
1987: December
Christmas at Home
1988: March
Aretha’s Message to Our Youth
1988: July
A Queen’s Masquerade Ball
1988: August
The Queen on the Presidential Yacht
1988: August
All Alone Before a Concert
1989: March
Star-studded Birthday Party
1991: March
Aretha’s Birthday at the Ritz
1992: June
Aretha the Ballerina
1998: November
Aretha’s First Performance with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
2007: August
In the Hamptons with Her Grandchildren
2018: August 31
R E S P E C T
Afterword
Gratitude & Respect
FOREWORD
Aretha never ceased to amaze me. Vocally, just astonishing. No one like her . . . no one ever will be like her. Her musicality, the way she could work at the piano and be so creative at the piano, never was a sight reader only playing by ear, which was totally amazing to me. I went to record her once in Detroit but talked to her on the phone from LA beforehand about the song we were doing. I played the song and the key I thought would be the right key for Aretha and she said no.
She went to the piano and said it’s too low, I can sing it two notes higher. She then sat at the piano and played the song in the key she wanted to sing it in. I was quite astonished . . . she was right on the money. She was just amazing. And to take a song like Say a Little Prayer,
which I thought we had made a pretty good recording of with Dionne, and make Aretha’s version . . . it was so much better. I wanted her voice and her life to live forever. I miss