i>>? Iconic Motown singer Aretha Franklin is „down but she is not out,“ NAACP Detroit Branch President Rev. Wendell Anthony said following reports that the Queen of Soul is „gravely ill.“
Iconic Motown singer Aretha Franklin is „down, but she is not out,“ NAACP Detroit Branch President Rev. Wendell Anthony said following reports that the Queen of Soul is „gravely ill.“
„There will never ever be another sister Aretha,“ Anthony said at an event Monday announcing that grant funds will help preserve three historic Detroit homes with a connection to the Civil Rights movement.
„… We just pray God’s eternal blessings on her as she labors from this illness at this time period… It’s not over until the master says it’s over… so right now we just encourage everyone who loves Aretha to say a little prayer for her.“
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who also spoke at the Monday’s event, gave Franklin a key to Detroit during a 2017 concert in the city .
„She was clearly struggling and she took a break and she came back out courageously and sang another song,“ Duggan said. „She was so much a part of the city and our thoughts and prayers are with her and the family today.“
Franklin performed what was believed to be her final Detroit concert as a headliner at the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend outside of the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on June 10,2017. Her last public performance took place on Nov. 2,2017 in New York City at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Gala.
Born in 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, Franklin grew up in Detroit. While Franklin never recorded with Berry Gordy Jr.’s 1960-founded Motown Records, she will forever be associated with Detroit soul music.
In 1987, she became the first women inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Throughout her prolific music career, Franklin sold more than 75 million albums, won 18 Grammy Awards and recorded 20 No. 1 R&B hits.
In June 2017, the city of Detroit honored her by renaming Madison Avenue between Brush Street and John R after her.
Detroit street naming ceremony
