Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul

Copyright 1989, 2001, 2012 by Mark Bego
St. Martins Press Edition, 1989
Da Capo Press Edition, 2001
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fundraising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contactthe Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

www.skyhorsepublishing.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file
ISBN 978-1-61608-581-0

Printed in the United States of America

TO DON KEVERN :

My junior high school English teacher who taught me
to appreciate the written word.

From the 1989 edition of this book:

The author would like to thank the following people for their help, assistance, and encouragement: Vince Aletti, Bob Altshuler, Bob and Mary Bego, Fran Boyar, Nathaniel Brewster, Ray Bryant, Joe Canale, Andy Carpenter, Mark Chase, John Christe, Rita Coolidge, Paul Cooper, Jack Cunningham, Billy Davis, Clive Davis, Sandra DeCosta, Brad DeMeulenaere, Simo Doe, Jack Donaghy, Shellie Ellis / Oklahoma Daily, Tisha Fein, Dennis Fine, Joann Forsyth, Neil S. Friedman, Stacia Friedman, Gary Graff / Detroit Free Press, Rita Griffin / Michigan Chronicle, Dan Hartman, Isiah James, Randy Jones, Marilyn and John Kelly / WXYZ-TV Detroit, Barb Knudson, Virginia Lohle, Toni Lopopolo, Diane Mancher, Bob Margouleff, Sindi Markoff, Peter Max, Walter McBride, Sue Muffy McDonald, Joe McEwen, Charles Moniz, Terry Morgan, Ernie Needham, Carolyn OConnell, Clyde Otis, Greg Porto, Stephen Pullan, Kenneth Reynolds, Sherry Robb, Melani Rogers, David Salidor, Barbara Shelley, Brendan Thompson, Ted White, Mary Wilson, and special thanks to Glenn Hughes AND all of my confidential sources.

For the 2011 / 2012 edition of this book:

Cindy Adams, Sam Alexander, John Botticella, Marten Brandt, Mary Anne Cassata, Jay Cassell, Tom Cuddy, Sarah Dash, Dan DeFilippo, James Edstrom, Sasha Goodman, Yvette Grant, Giovanni Jackson, Ronit Jariv, Dave Marken, Scott Mendel, Kevin Milburn, David Nathan (Thank you for quoting this book in the liner notes of all of Arethas great Atlantic repackages!), Luke Nicola, Mark and Bonnie Olson, Christopher Pavlick, Freda Payne, Anne Raso, Marsha Stern, Derek Storm, Ann Treistman, George Vissichelli, Beth Wernick, Patrick Wood, and to Aretha Franklin herselfthank you for the in-person interview that started me on the path to writing this book.

I would like to dedicate this new edition of this book to the memory of my dear friend John Klinger (19622011): Dude, the coffee will always be on here for you, and I will always love you and never forget you!

T he book you are reading is one I have been writingin one form or anotherfor forty years. The first time I wrote about Aretha Franklin was when I was a journalism student at Central Michigan University. I wrote a record review column for my college newspaper, and that very first year of its existence, I declared Arethas Young, Gifted and Black to be one of my Ten Best Recordings of 1972. At the time, I had no idea I would be consistently writing about her life and her music for the following four decades!

In 1985 I interviewed Aretha Franklin in person in her Detroit area home, and this book was conceived that very day. The first edition of Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul was published by St. Martins Press in 1989. It was not only the first full biography ever published about Aretha Franklin, it was also critically acclaimed. The original book comprised nine chapters and a conclusion, labeled Dnouementwhich is the French term for the final outcome or resolution to a story.

Da Capo Press published the second version of this book in 2001. It comprised the original 1989 edition, plus an additional chapter, entitled A Rose is Still a Rose, and an updated Discography section in the back of the book to take the book from 1990 to 2001.

By the end of 2010, Aretha Franklin was back in the headlines again. She had been continuing to record and to perform across America, when she was hospitalized, battling a mysterious and life-threatening illness. The world drew a collective gasp, worried for her health. At the same time, the rights to this book again reverted back to me, and suddenly it was time to update this book again.

This time around I had to do more than just add a new chapter and update the growing list of Arethas recordings presented in the Discography. Since the original book written in 1989 was such a favorite of Arethas fans, I have chosen to leave it more or less intact and to build some new pieces around it.

While everything in the 1989 and 2001 editions of this book is included, this new version has been completely updated. In addition, I have added over one dozen Aretha Franklin stories and two new chapters in order to bring the story all the way up to 2012 and to make this edition of the book completely unique.

The new chapters, entitled So Damned Happy and How Does Aretha Keep the Music Playing discuss Arethas final recordings with Arista Records, her alarming weight gain, the highly-publicized feud she started with Tina Turner, her 20102011 health issues, her sudden weight loss, an all-star salute to Aretha on the 2011 Grammy Awards telecast, rumors of a film about her remarkable life, her first Number One pop album appearance, and an overview of her amazing career.

As concerns about Arethas health grew in 2010 and 2011, record labels scrambled to issue new compilations of her iconic music. So, in an effort to make certain that this book remains the definitive book on Aretha, it needed a new up-to-the-minute list of all of her recordings. I decided that, rather than adding a separate updating section to the segmented Discography that appeared in the 2001 version of this book, I needed to reconstruct the whole thing so Arethas devoted fans will now have a new ultimate list of her recorded music at hand. Since it was Arethas music that first made us all fall in love with her, I am able to present a new and improved Discography that is truly fit for rock and roll royalty.

Since this soul-singing Detroit diva is such a unique performer, this new version of Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul had to be unique, exciting, up-to-date, and filled with information that is unobtainable anywhere else. This has offered me the opportunity to revisit one of my all-time favorite books and to give it a new lease on life. In addition, for the first time, this book will not only be available in America, it will also be published in several different languages in several countries, around the world.

The great soul man James Brown once claimed in song that Its a Mans World. Thats not Arethas side of the story. After you have read this book, I am confident you will come to the conclusion that it is Aretha Franklins world and clearly she is and always will be the Queen of Soul.

Mark Bego

2012