{"id":21066,"date":"2018-08-21T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T19:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=21066"},"modified":"2019-02-18T14:31:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T19:31:58","slug":"aretha-franklin-passes-away-at-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2018\/08\/21\/aretha-franklin-passes-away-at-76\/","title":{"rendered":"Aretha Franklin Passes Away at 76"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Michael Jackson, Prince and Whitney Houston; These are some of the artists whose music brought our parents and us joy for many years. We have welcomed them into our homes and they have become like part of the family. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s why there is such a sense of deep loss when one of these people pass away. These people helped us express emotions, thoughts and feelings that sometimes even we didn\u2019t know we had. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This is no less evident with the passing of one of the greatest that has ever been. Let me set a scene for you readers: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s Sunday afternoon and it\u2019s house cleaning day. You begrudgingly get the vacuum from the downstairs closet. Before you plug it in your momma with a broom in her hand turns on the radio to the golden hits station and the song \u201cRespect\u201d comes blaring out of the radio, and with a smile on her face your mom begins to clean, grooving to Aretha Franklin Sunday on the radio station. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Soon you\u2019re grooving and smiling while also spelling out the song’s namesake. The next song comes on and then you\u2019re humming along about a \u201cChain of Fools.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0And after what seems like no time the house is clean, you are grooving to the song \u201cThink\u201d and you feel at peace, content and safe in your little world, not at all bothered by the stress that will come later in life. It’s just you and your loved one all thanks to that magical songbird Aretha Franklin. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Unfortunately, life is sometimes unfair and takes away those we cherish the most. Franklin passed away on Aug. 16, 2018 at the age of 76 from a battle with pancreatic cancer. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Aretha Louise Franklin was an African American singer and songwriter, b<\/span>orn on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tenn. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0She was raised mostly in Detroit, Michigan and <\/span>began her career like most African American artists of her time in the church singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was a minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Her childhood consisted of both music and the burgeoning civil rights movement. Franklin\u2019s family were close friends with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who often stayed at their home, as her father introduced King to the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Her father, unlike most men of the cloth, supported his daughter in her singing career when she decided to go from singing gospel to secular R&B music. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0At the age of 25 she recorded her hit song \u201cRespect\u201d that was originally written by Otis Redding. <\/span>After making seven records for Columbia over a six-year span, she signed with Atlantic Records and that’s where she became the “Queen of Soul.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Even with her massive success she was still heavily involved in the civil rights movement. She funded the movement directly and indirectly when needed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Franklin did this even at the suggestions of managers and record executives who cautioned her in getting involved with the movement. Her response to that suggestion was a world tour with Harry Belafonte to help raise money for the civil rights movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Her songs made an impact on the nation, helping the U.S. through the assassination of Dr. King and throughout the Vietnam War. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Franklin continued to record hit after hit throughout the 70s and 80s and racked up almost every award and accolade a singer could get. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 This included 18 Grammy awards, The Recording Academy\u2019s Grammy Legend Award as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. Outside of music she earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 and had a successful appearance in the 1980 film, \u201cThe Blues Brothers,\u201d performing \u201cThink.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0During her life she sold 75 million records, which made her one of the best-selling artists of all time and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 as the first woman inductee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0On the other side,<\/span> even with her great professional success, Franklin led a very rocky personal life. She lost her mother before the age of 10. Later on in life her father was shot in an attempted robbery. He didn\u2019t die right away but was in a coma for five years before he passed in 1984. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0She gave birth to two children before she was 17, and two more later during two marriages that both ended in divorce. She had several health issues, including struggling with alcohol use, smoking and her weight. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0While Franklin continued to record and perform, she rarely toured because of an extreme phobia of flying. Even with that phobia she still appeared and performed at President Barack Obama\u2019s inauguration in 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Aretha Franklin wasn\u2019t just a singer and songwriter. She was a champion for civil rights, and a great example of hard work and determination in the face of adversity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Through her music, she instructed us on how to stand up for ourselves and to demand respect and equality. Aretha you will be deeply missed by many. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This world is a little less bright after the loss of a woman that has brought so much joy in the world and also taught a little boy to enjoy doing chores on a Sunday afternoon with his mom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Justin A. Baker<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Staff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Michael Jackson, Prince and Whitney Houston; These are some of the artists whose music brought our parents and us joy for many years. We have welcomed them into our homes and they have become like part of the family. \u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s why there is such a sense of deep loss when one of these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":21070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2104,2144,3],"tags":[2686,2528,2299,1384],"class_list":["post-21066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-music-entertainment","category-tartan-news","tag-aretha-franklin","tag-bakers-beat","tag-justin-a-baker","tag-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/27464305590_9db825c8ab_o.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-5tM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21066"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21284,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21066\/revisions\/21284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}