Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Goodbye, Aretha.



by Angela K. Durden, Fan


August 16, 2018 the Queen of Soul died from pancreatic cancer exactly 41 years after Elvis died from a heart attack. I mentioned this to my friend, an old, old, old former radio guy from the mid-1960s to early 1970s who remembered Elvis and Aretha well. He hastened to change the subject to a more upbeat topic.
He said, “Hey, Angela, the reason I remember when Elvis died is because he and Aretha both died on my birthday.”
I said, “What? Today is your birthday?”
“Yep. Guess who else was born on this day?” He looked all eager for me to guess but I just couldn’t and looked at him like I really wanted to know and then I said, “Who?” “Madonna!”
Let it be made perfectly clear that my friend has never once heard a song by Madonna because my friend stopped listening to the radio on the very day he quit the radio station. My old, old, old friend is one of those people who is thrust into a situation where he must remember massive facts and figures then spew them out again quickly and accurately. Which is why he made such a great DJ. He is also one of those people that never forgets data. So that the fact that he even knew Madonna’s name and that she was a singer, actress, and all-round glamourous material girl has nothing to do with his interest in her but more to do with her team’s marketing expertise and damn, they are experts at it.
Of course, even Madonna’s team is having trouble with marketing these days because a lot of their efforts centered around Madonna’s outrageous and ever-increasing scandalous behavior.
All this is quite opposite from Aretha Franklin who is not known for swirling scandal, but for her massive talent. Granted, Aretha had drama in her life, but she did not use it to get free column inches. Instead, she did not want to talk about the drama, often refusing to speak of it when asked by reporters.
While I was not there when reporters got pushy in digging for scandal, I can bet the Queen of Soul put them in their place real fast, and I can bet they didn’t try it again for fear of finding out what “or else” really could mean.
And that is why I like Aretha. She was truly the Queen of Class and Soul. She showed both during the 1998 Divas Live brought to television by VH1 which lined up the best of the best: Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Céline Dion, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey. So, what happened was that Aretha didn’t stop singing when it was Céline’s turn to sing. Well, Céline, unlike most Canadians, wasn’t putting up with Aretha stomping all over her stage time and she decided she was going to show Aretha a thing or two.
By way of explaining what happened, Carole King began by saying, “Bless [Aretha’s] heart, but she does like to take over.”
But Aretha knew who was on the stage with her. And she knew who needed to learn a lesson. And so she was teaching the tiny Canuck to know her place. Now, Aretha could do that and not be a smart-ass high-faluting ego-maniac because Aretha had come up the hard way in life and in the business. Céline did not. In fact, Céline’s story is more like a fairy tale comparatively speaking.
Aretha understood that some folks gotta learn the hard way and that some folks need to learn in public and where but on national television in a much vaunted show would be better? No place. Aretha did not shirk her duty and when she kept singing through Céline’s part and Céline was getting antsy about it, Aretha knew Céline would try something stupid and she did.
She tried to out-diva Aretha.
Céline’s attempt did not work. Do not believe what the other stars on the show said about the situation because I’m telling you what it looked like from the viewer’s POV and that is all that matters in live TV and in this show Céline showed herself up as being a Wannabee. She pulled out all the stops in her vocal arsenal and found herself wanting.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she found herself craving the power, tone, control, and range of Aretha’s voice, and was inadequate in rendering the song “Natural Woman” with all the emotional capacity carried fluently through Aretha’s voice. Céline ended a great evening by trying to start a cat fight and all that did was make her look bad. Not a good move, Céline.
But, Aretha, Aretha, Aretha, even Céline will miss you and I bet she does a tribute to you in one of her splashy shows because, I do believe, the lesson you taught her has been learned.
Goodbye, Aretha.

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