ArethaFranklin

Aretha
Franklin

    Aretha was born in Memphis in 1942 and grew up in Detroit, where her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was the pastor at the New Bethel Baptist Church. Aretha began singing church music at an early age, and recorded her first album, "The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin," for the Checker label at age 14.
     Her early influences included secular singers like Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, LaVern Baker and Ruth Brown. She signed with Columbia Records in 1960, having been brought to the label by legendary talent scout John Hammond. Her tenure at Columbia was amiss, one that found her dabbling in pop and jazz styles. In Hammond's words, "Columbia was a white company who misunderstood her genius."
     With her move to Atlantic Records in 1966, Aretha helped usher in an era of fresh, forthright soul music. It commenced with her first single for the label, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)," a salty number that unleashed the full force of Franklin's voice upon the world. Her next triumph was "Respect," a fervent reworking of an Otis Redding number that can, in hindsight, be seen as an early volley in the feminist movement and a signature statement of racial pride. Working under the tutelage of producer Jerry Wexler, engineer Tom Dowd and arranger Arif Mardin, Franklin rewrote the book on soul music in the late Sixties with a string of smash crossover singles that included "Chain Of Fools," "Think" and a memorable rendering of Carole King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
     The Seventies brought continued success to Franklin, who has to date charted more million-sellers than any other woman in recording history. During that decade, the ever-maturing "Lady Soul" (as she was dubbed) released critically acclaimed albums such as "Spirit In The Dark" and "Young, Gifted And Black." Her long tenure with Atlantic came to an end after 14 years, and in 1980 she signed with Arista.
     For "Aretha," Arista label president Clive Davis drummed out a certain amount of fanfare for this initial effort, and for the most part it was deserved. Aretha attempts to pull out all of the stops, which is suitable for a major artist coming to a new label. The best moments here reestablish Franklin as a phenomenal singer, not just an icon. Oddly as disco was in the throes of it's death she emerged, finally, as a club-friendly artist. A 12" single of "What A Fool Believes" was pulled from the album and immediately the clubs took to it. Two other tracks received club play, "I Can't Turn You Loose" and "School Days."
     A revitalized Franklin was off and running. An appearance in the hit movie "The Blues Brothers" had Aretha re-recording her hit "Think," the new version was also tapped for club play and many were introduced to her music for the first time.
     Her 1981 release "Love All The Hurt Away" helped her gain more ground in the club area with 12" singles of "Livin' In The Streets" and "Hold On I'm Coming." The title track was a delicious duet with George Benson that was not only a radio favorite, but also an early morning sleaze hit in the clubs. The album was her highest charter in seven years hitting the top 40 on the pop charts and the top 5 on the black charts.
     "Jump To It" was the first album that specifically went after the club crowd. The 12" single of "Jump To It" went number one on the club and black singles charts. It seems Aretha had found her niche, danceable beats with her soulful delivery and updated studio effects equaled success. A second 12" single of "Love Me Right" also did well but was largely overshadowed by the enourmous success of "Jump."
     Luther Vandross (as producer) scored a major success with 1982's "Jump to It," but the 1983 follow-up is less impressive and proved less successful. Vandross wrote most of the material, including the number one R&B title track and the R&B Top Ten hit "Every Girl (Wants My Guy)," although he also has Franklin tackle the Temptations hit "I Wish It Would Rain," in a painfully overwrought production. Still a 12" single of "Get It Right" (the title track) helped keep her newly found club-based fans happy.
     After nearly a two-year hiatus from the charts, the Queen of Soul returned in style in 1985 with three Billboard R&B Top Ten singles, including the number one smash hit "Freeway Of Love." With its festive rhythm arrangement and electric sax solo by Clarence Clemons, Aretha Franklin injects her lively vocals. It held the number one spot for five straight weeks. The title track, "Who's Zoomin' Who," has a more soulful bounce, including Franklin's delivery. Its sputtering bass line and chiming keyboards are augmented by Franklin's soulful delivery; her improvising ad libs are laudable to say the least. The single peaked at number two for four consecutive weeks. She had another Top Ten hit with "Another Night," a mid-tempo number with a light rock feel. It was a number nine hit. Her duet with Eurythmics, "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves," faltered at number 66. And a fifth 12" single of "Ain't Nobody Ever Loved You" missed completely. Narada Michael Walden is credited with the majority of the production on this sound outing.
     Don't be confused by the generic title; "Aretha," this was a new Aretha Franklin album from 1986 and a moderately succesful one, notable for containing five R&B hits, four of which also made the pop charts: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (produced by Keith Richards and featured in the Whoopi Goldberg movie of the same title), "Jimmy Lee" (#2 R&B), "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (a duet with George Michael that went #1 pop), "Rock-A-Lott," and "If You Need My Love Tonight" (a duet with Larry Graham). This and the previous album were without a doubt the pinnacle of her triumphant 1980's renassiance.
     Fifteen years after "Amazing Grace," her groundbreaking gospel record, Aretha Franklin returned to the church yet again, and though the results couldn't top the wall-to-wall power and spirit found on her first, the 1987 double-album "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism," is still a worthy document of what the church meant to her. The roster of invited guests was enough to get gospel fans excited, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Jasper Williams, and Rev. C.L. Franklin (her brother, who delivered the invocation), plus Mavis Staples, Joe Ligon (from the Mighty Clouds of Joy), and her sisters, Carol and Erma. Slotted next to sanctified standards like "Surely God Is Able" and "The Lord's Prayer," were several great selections from the pop repertoire, including a scorching version of "Higher Ground."
     1988's "Through The Storm" was a trek back to the secular side of "Re." Having scored in the recent past with producer Narada Michael Walden and some star duets, Franklin and Arista turned out another album with the same approach but with less successful results. The title duet with Elton John went Top 20, but its followup, "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be" was an embarrassing failure for both Franklin and the previously pop-perfect Whitney Houston. The rest was even less distinguished, including songs with The Four Tops, James Brown and Kenny G and a third remake of her old hit "Think."
     After the less than spectacular sales of her 1988 release Aretha took a few years off to regroup and reevaluate her recording prioritys. However she felt about the ever changing musical landscape she had her first mis-step in nearly a decade with 1991's "What You See Is What You Sweat." The 12" single of "Everyday People" barely impacted the charts. The album itself only hit 153 on top 200 list and was seen as as a bit of a disappointment by most.
     For much of the 1990's, Aretha Franklin acted as if she couldn't even care about appealing to a younger audience. She rarely recorded, and when she did, it was usually slick adult contemporary material. That's what makes the fresh "A Rose Is Still a Rose" such a surprise. The most notable element of the album is that Franklin collaborates with a group of fresh talent, all of whom are either prominent rap figures or at least fluent in hip-hop. The album sounds contemporary, which is the last thing most observers would have expected from Aretha in 1998. That in itself is heartening, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything works. Lauryn Hill's "A Rose Is Still a Rose" is a perfect match, lyrically and musically, but it only shows how shallow Puff Daddy's writing really is on "Never Leave You Again." Still, Dallas Austin's "I'll Dip," Jermaine Dupri's "Here We Go Again" and "Every Lil' Bit Hurts," and Daryl Simmons' "In The Morning" and "In Case You Forgot" all work, and Franklin's original "The Woman" is arguably her most soulful performance in years. These make the awkward moments forgivable because they find Aretha sounding vital, which is something that has not happened throughout the 1990's.
     During the five years that separated "So Damn Happy" from her previous album, Aretha Franklin made the celebrity-gossip pages many more times than she earned airplay on the radio. Neatly side-stepping her problems with the law (including the mysterious circumstances that surrounded the fire at her home), Aretha's return to the studio illustrates that her power lies not in managing her career but in putting across any song that comes her way. Recording mostly in Detroit with a small group, she tempered the hip-hop inclinations of her previous album to deliver a refreshing (though admittedly sterilized) update of her 1970's records. Various producers and songwriters give her backgrounds composed of earthy, acoustic-driven soul, similar to contemporary records by India.Arie or Jill Scott. Most of the songs, led by "The Only Thing Missin'," the title track, and "Holdin' On," are up to a high level, catchy and easy to understand (all the better to simply luxuriate in Aretha's powerful voice). Also, two mild concessions to the hip-hop world end up paying off: guest Mary J. Blige arranged the backing vocals for two songs, both of which reach a level not seen since the days of the Sweet Inspirations, while producer Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence delivered an organic arrangement for a song called "Wonderful" that evokes the glory days of her 1970's soul more than any other song here. Aretha shouldn't need to resort to overkill to proclaim her joy at making music; the songs on "So Damn Happy" are all the proof her fans need to understand that her talent remains undiminished nearly 50 years after her debut as a secular act. And though her days as a major club force seem over we are happy to have spent many nights dancing with "Re."