How tantalising. Aretha Franklin politely excuses herself as soon as she
answers the phone in her Philadelphia hotel room. Faintly I hear: “Hello, H?
H, it's a go. I heard the whole arrangement. It's a beautiful arrangement.
It's a go.”
“I was just talking to my conductor,” Franklin says in her grand, measured
voice when she returns to the phone. “I was telling him to send the track to
Washington.” Is she talking about the song she is planning to sing at Barack
Obama's inauguration on the steps of the US Capitol building tomorrow? “Uh
huh,” the widely hailed “Queen of Soul” says. What will she be singing? “I
can't tell you.” Will it be a song we associate with her? “Oh yeah, sure,
certainly.”
How about R-E-S-P-E-C-T? “You could certainly say he [Obama] was getting a
whole lot of that,” she says. “He's a very bright and cerebral young man.”
When she thinks of Obama, she thinks of “jubilation all over the world -
dancing in Africa, dancing in London, dancing in Japan... people are so
happy about this inauguration”. Franklin is a rousing, apposite choice for
this grand gig. One of the most accomplished singers of her generation, her
career has run parallel to the black civil rights movement. She was named by
Rolling Stone last year as the No 1 all-time best singer of the rock era.
She has 21 Grammy awards, in 1987 she was the first woman to be inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Respect is the ultimate, insistent
anthem of equality.
While she eats lunch (club sandwich, spaghetti, iced tea), Franklin relates
how she met Obama at the funeral in 2005 of Rosa Parks, who in 1955 famously
refused to give up her bus seat for a white passenger in Montgomery,
Alabama. Franklin met him again at a Democratic convention where he was the
keynote speaker. “I was so impressed I asked him to be a guest at a soirée I
was having. Unfortunately his schedule wouldn't allow it.” What so impressed
her? “I think he's very good and seriously concerned about people. He has
his own vision and I think he knows where he wants to go with it and he
wants us, the people, to help him, to play our roles in support of it; like
what JFK said: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can
do for your country'. In small ways people can contribute, like cleaning up
your community.”
She refuses to speculate to what extent Obama's election has quelled, or
neutralised, America's racial demons, but vigorously agrees that his
election is a profound moment. “Oh definitely. I do believe change is going
to be major. People understand that it isn't going to happen overnight. Rome
was not built in a day. But I do believe in time, with hard work - and he
realises how much hard work it's going to be - they will give it their best.
He has a great, capable, intelligent staff. They'll make any corrections
that need to be corrected and resolve some of those issues and problems that
are facing the country. I think we all have high hopes for him. People are
poised for change and hoping for the best.” She is very excited about
singing. “I'm just trying to hold myself down. I think they expect between
three and five million people at the swearing -in. Although I have sung for
many, many people - hundreds of thousands - I have never sung for that kind
of number, but I am absolutely looking forward to it.”
Does she ever get nerves? “Oh yeah, a little bit. You just do it. You just
give it your best. Every day it's gotten more exciting. It's such a great
moment in history - in American history, in African-American history - and
everybody is just waiting for the moment. It is somewhat the fruition of the
civil rights movement and the people very strongly involved in civil rights:
Dr [Martin Luther] King, the Reverend [Jesse] Jackson, the Reverend [Ralph]
Abernathy, Andy Young [who became the first African-American ambassador to
the UN]. It somewhat realises some of their dreams. Of course my father
[Clarence LaVaughn Franklin] played his part in it. He was the minister of
the New Bethel Baptist Church for close to 40 years and he was a very close
friend of Dr King.”
Franklin, 66, was born in Memphis, though the family moved to Detroit where
she grew up. Her parents separated when she was 6 and her mother died when
she was 10 but her childhood, Franklin insists, “was a wonderful time. There
were good people around me, very strong positive role models. I was a
typical teenager: in a roller rink most of the time, then church on a
Sunday.” Well, not a totally typical teenager: she had her first child at
14. Did she have strong Christian beliefs? “Absolutely.” And they're still
important? “Absolutely. Lifelong values.”
Franklin Sr, who was a highly regarded preacher , organised the 1963 Walk to
Freedom in Detroit, led by King and attended by 200,000 marchers. “He walked
into history that day himself,” says Franklin proudly. Does she remember
meeting Dr King? “Yes, he was a houseguest of ours. My dad had me sing for
him as very, very young girl. I sang Gracious Lord, that was one of his
favourite songs. He was a beautiful man, very softly spoken, humorous,
extremely cerebral, of course, a good and caring man.” While travelling
around the South, Franklin and her father experienced racism, “like not
being able to eat in some of restaurants, or use some of the toilet
facilities in certain places. You had to go to others or you had to go to
grocery stores. It was certainly not something you wanted to do. You wanted
to be appreciated and have first-class privileges like anyone else, but that
was not the case.”
She wanted to be a singer from the age of 10, was mentored by Clara Ward, of
The Famous Ward Singers, and sang in a church choir. Had she not been a
singer she says she would have been a prima ballerina or a nurse, like her
mother. “Certainly I am compassionate where people's pain is concerned. I'm
not sure I could have been a nurse though. As I got older I realised all
their duties and responsibilities.” The young Franklin was also influenced
by “secular artists”, as she puts it, such as Frankie Lymon, Little Willie
John and the Flamingos, one of her favourite groups. She never trained her
voice and experienced no racism in the music industry. “It was never like
that. The windows of opportunity were always open. Carole King, Patrice
Rushen...we had the same opportunities as the men.” Franklin's early hits
include her first (in 1967 when for Atlantic Records), I Never Loved A Man
(The Way I Loved You), Baby I Love You, Chain of Fools and (You Make Me Feel
Like) A Natural Woman. But it's Respect that she's best known for. Did she
know how enduring that would prove? “I did not. I really did not. But it
has, as Jerry Wexler [her producer] used to say, ‘stood up' over the years,
and it's still standing the test of time.” What was in her mind when she
sang it? “I think I meant ‘respect' in male-female relationships and just
respect in general. People deserve and should give respect. Everybody wants
respect, everybody needs respect.” Does one have a right to demand respect,
I ask. “Well, you can only demand respect to a certain degree. You can't
make people do anything.”
What is Franklin most proud of? “Everything, I think. It's a journey of trial
and error, and I think I have taken advantage of my mistakes and moved on to
more positive levels. Made the corrections.” What have those mistakes been?
“Oh boy, she says, laughing. “Right now, dealing with my weight. And I'm
doing very well with it. I'm winning at this point.” When she received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, she was photographed dabbing tears
from her eyes. “It was very emotional. I just thought about my dad and was
hoping he could have been there. He would have been very, very proud of me.”
It's “too heavy, too early in the morning” to consider whether she's
always been fulfilled or divulge outstanding ambitions. As she's aged her
voice has changed only in that it has gained “maturity through experience”.
There have been periods when Franklin's career was in abeyance - never
disastrously so - but her star has never dimmed and she has “definitely not”
considered giving up. “Every singer has their tough times. But there has
never been the kind of hardship where one would start thinking of that.”
Franklin has a new album scheduled for the spring and is planning a London
trip as part of a European tour. “London will be first. I love London, the
people there are very warm, congenial, receiving and welcoming. I had the
occasion to go by the Palace nightly (Buckingham, presumably) the last time
I was there and see the guards up close. I shopped on Carnaby Street.” In
the autumn she will hold masterclasses for singers at Carnegie Hall, in New
York, where she agrees that history - Judy Garland, all the greats - drips
from the walls. She equates it to the Royal Albert Hall: “I've always wanted
to sing there.” (Albert Hall chiefs, consider yourself told.) We think of
her as a diva, but Franklin says that when she's not performing she likes to
do “a whole lot of nothing” at home: cleaning, cooking and watching her
favourite TV shows, Dancing with the Stars (the US Strictly Come Dancing -
she would never take part though did sing on it last month) and the soap The
Young and the Restless. Unlike many celebrities, she likes TV talent shows
such as American Idol, praising ”good finds” such as Jennifer Hudson,
Fantasia Barrino and Ruben Studdard. What does she want from the future?
“Peace and serenity and a few more hits,” she says, quick-smart. “I love the
Grammys, keep the Grammys coming.”
She expects it will be cold tomorrow, so that in her inauguration outfit
(another secret, like the song) she will be “very warmly wrapped from head
to toe”. What will she say to Obama? “Many congratulations and keep God in
the plan.” What does she mean? “Just in your everyday happenings, always
acknowledge Him.” And so, as she eats her spaghetti and clinks her iced tea,
we come back to the nature of her belief. “I don't want to articulate it, or
break it down or dissect it, living it is better than all of that.” Have her
Christian beliefs nourished her? “Of course. Man shall not live by bread
alone.” Then, firmly, she says she must go.
“Say hello to Dame Shirley for me,” she says suddenly.
Dame Shirley Bassey? Are they friends? “We're not friends but I've always
appreciated and enjoyed her,” says Franklin.
The next day, in the spirit of bringing divas together, The Times passes on
her message. Dame Shirley sends this message back: “Congratulations to
Barack Obama on becoming America's first black president - it's fantastic!
Aretha will give a great performance and I just wish I was able to be there
to meet them and tell them myself!”
Ladies, let's continue this at the Royal Albert Hall.
So much hope, so much pride - what they say about Obama
Jay Z
“Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so
Obama could run. Obama's running so we all can fly”
Will Smith
“It's not just revolutionary, it's evolutionary. Never before in the history
of the planet has someone, a group of people, moved from the slave class of
empire to be elected to the top spot. It's something I believed was real and
possible for so long. I carried myself around the world in that way as if it
could be true, possible, so there's a deep truth in me that was validated on
November 4”
Bill Cosby
“This is not just about a black man. The important thing is what he's doing
with this country, for this country. The beauty of his story, of Michelle's
story...touches all colours, all religions, all races”
Maya Angelou
“I believe in the heart of every American there's the desire to belong to a
great country. Look at our souls, look at our hearts. We have elected a
black man to talk for us, to speak for us. We, blacks, whites, Asians,
Spanish-speaking, Native Americans, we have done it. Fat, thin, pretty,
plain, gay, straight. We have done it! My Lord - I am an American, baby!”
Jamie Foxx
I speak now to every African-American male that I see. Now we have a
responsibility, a huge responsibility, to make sure we do the right thing
and to cut out all the madness and silliness. Now we don't have an excuse.
We can't say it's the man's fault when you are the man”
Alice Walker
“He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning,
like King was and like Mandela is. He is the change America has been trying
desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change it must have
if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other
than our (white) selves”
P. Diddy
“I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. It was down to one
vote. And that may not be true, but that's how much power it felt like I had”
Oprah Winfrey
“This is a moment for America. It says no longer will there just be red states
and blue states, but the colour purple rules. It also means that for every
time that Barack has spoken about red states and blue states, he meant red
people and blue people and black people and white people - the United States
of America
Beyoncé
“I feel like we have grown so much as a nation and we will continue to grow
because of Mr Obama. Mr Obama, his wife and his children...they are the
American dream. They are so elegant, so classy, so intelligent and
everything that I want to be. They make me really proud of my country”
Spike Lee
“It's a beautiful morning, a new dawn, a new beginning - not just in America
but the world over”
