Aretha franklin biography 2014
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Aretha’s Biographer on the Complicated Woman Behind the Diva: ‘She Tried to Paint a Picture of a Happy Life’
Noted music biographer David Ritz (Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Janet Jackson, Etta James) has written a pair of books about Aretha Franklin. He co-authored her 1998 autobiography, “Aretha: From These Roots,” written with her input. Then in 2014, he published “Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,” culled from interviews with those closest to her, which essentially shattered his friendship with the Queen of Soul, who was upset by its candor.
What was your experience like working with Aretha on her own autobiography?
I originally was introduced to her by Ray Charles. I chased after her tenaciously for 18 years before she agreed to do it with me. I couldn’t have been more excited. We worked on it for two years. I used to sit in her kitchen, her cooking and me eating, listening to gospel and jaz
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Aretha Franklin’s Ghostwriter on the Singer’s Enduring Mysteries
My Great Aretha Adventure began when, as a teenager, inom longed to learn the mystery behind the beauty of her voice. So, some 40 years ago, I set out to meet her and document her life. It became my uppdrag. On one level, inom accomplished that mission. inom met her and documented her life. But on another level, I failed. Her mystery, despite my efforts to explicate it, remains intact.
“She’s not like other ladies,” Ray Charles told me in 1977 before introducing me to her. At the time, I was ghostwriting Ray’s autobiography and wanted to work with Aretha next.
“You hear her singin’ and you think that’s her sure-enough personality,” Ray explained. “But it ain’t. She’s so shy she might not säga a word to you.”
She didn’t. When she entered Ray’s dressing room, she barely glanced my way. After several minutes, inom found the courage to a
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Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin
This illuminating biography presents "a remarkably complex portrait of Aretha Franklin's music and her tumultuous life" (Rolling Stone).
Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice.
It was not until 1967, when a white Jewish producer insisted she return to her gospel-soul roots, that fame and fortune finally came with a rapidfire string of hits, including the immortal anthem “Respect”. Aretha continued to evolve for decades, amidst personal tragedy, surprise Grammy performances, and career reinventions.
Again and again, Aretha stubbornly found a way to triumph over troubles, even as they continued to build. Her hold on the crown was tenacious, and in Respect, David Ritz gives us the defini