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- "Lady Soul" - symbol of black pride
- daughter of Rev. C.L. Franklin ("Man with the Million-Dollar Voice"),
whose "brimstone with a beat" preaching style caused Chess Records
to record 70 of his sermons
note how the minister's voice becomes like R&B/Soul singing toward the end!!
Aretha's singing style:
- total vocal control
- intricate melodic & rhythmic nuance
- precise control of pitch & timbre
- voice was clear & strong
- remarkable vocal range, expressing a wide range of emotion
- arrangements were often quite complex & sophisticated
- personality tended toward the shy introvert ... but actively engaged in the arranging & production of her recordings
- discovered by John Hammond (Columbia), believing she could follow Sam Cooke's lead from gospel to Pop
- important in the recording careers of Bessie Smith & Billie Holiday
(also Bob Dylan a few years later)
- during six years in the early 1960s, she recorded 4 jazz-flavored albums that were did not reach the desired level of commercial success
- Jerry Wexler (Atlantic) was waiting in the
wings for her contract with Columbia to expire
- signed her in 1967 and took her to Muscle
Shoals (AL)
First Atlantic Album was I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (#2!!);
from gospel to soul
(#9, 1967)
"Dr. Feelgood" 
(includes several attempts at defining "soul")
"Respect" (tune by Otis Redding from the same Aretha Franklin album)
... hit #1
Respect (#1, 1967)
- note the similarity in sound to "Pains of Life," released the same year
- Franklin proved successful with both black & white audiences
- became Atlantic's top recording artist, as Atlantic became the soul record label
- popularity continued with hits through the 70s
- 1980 - left Atlantic (signed with Arista)
- appeared in The Blues Brothers, beginning a strong comeback
- 1982 released Jump to It (#24 [#1 R&B])
- produced by Luther Vandross, who composed the title cut
- early 80s filled with personal tragedy
- father was attacked and shot by burglars in his Detroit home (1979),
lapsed into a coma and died in 1984
- went through a divorce in 1984
- 1985 - real comeback (Who's Zoomin' Who)
- title track (#7) & "Freeway of Love" (#3)
- she's still around though albums have not been selling anywhere near as
well since the mid-80s
- 1994's "A Deeper Love" from the Sister Act 2 soundtrack
pointing out the gospel roots of soul ...
"What a Friend"
--4 excerpts (from the album Amazing Grace, 1972)
- basically, based on a simple tune
- note overall AA'BA' form (play tune at
piano; p. 165)
- durational augmentation (stretching each
measure into two)
- turns 16-bar tune into 32 bars
excerpts from "What a Friend"...
- excerpt 1: repeats the first two A sections
- in her performance, Aretha repeats the first two sections and last two sections of the musical form(AA'AA'BA'BA')
- results in a 64-bar form!!
- excerpt 2: hangs out on the next-to-last measure
(stretching still further - 4 1/2 minutes to get through the entire tune)
... continues on with humming
- excerpt 3: opening phrase again
- added notes, rhythmic modifications (see p. 167 in text)
- "blue" notes
- excerpt 4: "blue" notes on repeat of A
section
notice soulful interpolations (like Sam Cooke) - "oh-oh," "oh,
yeah," "let's do that one more time,"etc.
- use of melisma
- wide variety of vocal timbres, typical of soul
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Early Photo of Aretha
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Aretha with Ray Charles
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Singing "Natural Woman"
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Aretha Sings
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Recording Session in the Late '60s
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