Detroit’s Motown Museum plans to pay tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin by playing her music all weekend long.
Detroit’s Motown Museum plans to pay tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin by playing her music all weekend long.
The museum announced it will also have a guestbook available for visitors to sign or share condolences that will later be sent to the family of Franklin, who died of Thursday, Aug. 16 at 76. Franklin’s publicist told People Magazine she was battling pancreatic cancer.
Franklin never recorded an album at Berry Gordy’s Motown Records, but her music has always been associated with the «Motown sound.»
«While she was never signed to the Motown label, there is no question she was a part of the Motown family,» said Robin Terry, CEO of the Motown Museum. «She performed at our Motown Museum 20th anniversary gala and it was an unforgettable night and performance. Her legacy will continue to inspire and resonate in the souls of Detroiters and her fans around the world. Motown Museum joins the rest of the world in mourning her passing as we celebrate her remarkable life and trailblazing contributions to music.»
The Motown Museum is located at 2648 W. Grand in Detroit, the site of the former record studio also known as Hitsville USA.
The museum is free to visit 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. $10-per-person, one-hour guided tours are available first-come-first-serve, or by reservations made on the museum website.
Franklin was born in 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Detroit, where she died Thursday. She lived in the Motor City for decades.
Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards, the third most ever by a woman (Beyonce has 22 and Alison Krauss 27), sold 75 million albums and had 20 No. 1 R&B hits, including «Respect,» «Chain of Fools,» «Think,» and «Freeway of Love.»
In 1987, the Queen of Soul became the first women inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Franklin performed her final concert in Detroit when she headlined the inaugural free Detroit Music Weekend outside of the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on June 10,2017. Her last live performance took place on November 2,2017 in New York City at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Gala.
In June 2017, the city of Detroit honored her by renaming a secondary street of Madison Avenue between Brush Street and John R after her.
Detroit street naming ceremony
