Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen.
I don’t remember the first time I heard Aretha Franklin’s voice, but I never forgot it. Even the tinnest of tin ears perked up when the Queen of Soul was belting one out (she had a four-octave vocal range).
Many of the reflections on Franklin’s passing note that “The Blues Brothers” helped revive her career when it was on life support (the rockin’ pneumonia and boogie-woogie flu had turned into a bad case of disco fever).
That’s one more reason to miss John Belushi, too.
Mad Blog Media 
True words!
“Chain of Fools” got a jump start again in the movie Michael in 1996.
Her vocal range reminded me of Roy Orbison, and she could easily slide across genre boundaries. I loved her performance in Duets II with Tony Bennett.
She had the chops and the pipes. A whole choir of voices in one throat. Roy had some serious range, too. That Big Band Up Yonder just keeps getting better.
From “Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black & White Night:”
41 years ago to the day we lost the King.
Now the Queen of Soul is gone to join the Choir Immaculate.
Long live the Queen
I rise in awe of and with unbridled respect (R_E_S_P_E_C_T) for a true “prodigy”: Aretha embodied class, prodigious talent, charisma, and … she burst through a multitude of “ceilings”.
Long Live The Queen!
The Blues Brothers *were* on a mission from God, after all 🙂
I heard this morning that the producers of Blues Brothers wanted the woman who sung “Car Wash” (a pretty cool song if you like your funk a bit popish). Akroyd apparently said NF WAY, or something to that effect.
Yup. They wanted someone more “now,” like Rose Royce, and Aykroyd and Belushi wanted them to go do something to themselves. And the rest, as they say, is history. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Several years ago I heard the author of Respect, Otis Redding, do his earlier version. Pretty pedestrian song about a guy who can’t get props from his mate. Damn if didn’t she turn that song on it’s ear. Redding is reported to have said that the “little girl” stole his song. Stole indeed!