👒Paying R.E.S.P.E.C.T. to the Queen of Soul

Aretha Franklin, the legendary singer and songwriter known for hits like “Respect” and “Chain of Fools,” passed away on Aug. 16 at the age of 76, her publicist [told the Associated Press](. Aretha, who died of complications from pancreatic cancer, had been suffering from ill health for several years—but the Queen still had the raw power to inspire crowds, mostly notably in 2015, when she [brought tears to the eyes of Barack Obama]( and millions who watched her [show-stopping rendition]( of “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center. She was an unabashed diva—quick to eviscerate any poor soul or rival singer who failed to give her her propers—with more than her fair share of eccentricities. But ultimately none of that mattered, as her former band member [Billy Preston explained]( “She can be hiding out in her house in Detroit for years. She can go decades without taking a plane or flying off to Europe. She can cancel half her gigs and infuriate every producer and promoter in the country. She can sing all kinds of jive-ass songs that are beneath her. She can go into her diva act and turn off the world. But on any given night, when that lady sits down at the piano and gets her body and soul all over some righteous song, she’ll scare the shit out of you. And you’ll know—you’ll swear—that she’s still the best f***in’ singer this f***ed-up country has ever produced.” 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Brought to you by [Quartz Obsession] Aretha August 16, 2018 Hail to the queen --------------------------------------------------------------- Aretha Franklin, the legendary singer and songwriter known for hits like “Respect” and “Chain of Fools,” passed away on Aug. 16 at the age of 76, her publicist [told the Associated Press](. Aretha, who died of complications from pancreatic cancer, had been suffering from ill health for several years—but the Queen still had the raw power to inspire crowds, mostly notably in 2015, when she [brought tears to the eyes of Barack Obama]( and millions who watched her [show-stopping rendition]( of “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center. She was an unabashed diva—quick to eviscerate any poor soul or rival singer who failed to give her her propers—with more than her fair share of eccentricities. But ultimately none of that mattered, as her former band member [Billy Preston explained]( “She can be hiding out in her house in Detroit for years. She can go decades without taking a plane or flying off to Europe. She can cancel half her gigs and infuriate every producer and promoter in the country. She can sing all kinds of jive-ass songs that are beneath her. She can go into her diva act and turn off the world. But on any given night, when that lady sits down at the piano and gets her body and soul all over some righteous song, she’ll scare the shit out of you. And you’ll know—you’ll swear—that she’s still the best f***in’ singer this f***ed-up country has ever produced.” 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy By the digits [#1:]( Aretha’s ranking among the greatest singers of all time, according to Rolling Stone [8:]( Consecutive years that Aretha won a Grammy for “Best Rhythm and Blues Performance, Female” (1968-[1975]( [18:]( Total number of Grammys she won [73:]( Number of her songs that reached the Billboard Top 100 list [14:]( Aretha’s age when she released her first album [1983:]( Year that Aretha quit flying after a turbulent flight, traveling henceforth in a custom tour bus [2 million:]( Albums sold of Aretha’s live album Amazing Grace, making it her best-selling album and easily the best-selling gospel album of all time. [75 million:]( Albums sold overall Watch this! Aretha singing “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. Brought to you by Hilton Honors Jazz is a one-of-a-kind gumbo of musical traditions --------------------------------------------------------------- Its story cannot be told through just one destination or chapter of history. To truly experience jazz, travel to the venues and cities that shaped it and catch a set (or three).[Explore the best places to hear jazz live]( origin story Daughter of a preacher man --------------------------------------------------------------- Aretha was the child of C.L. Franklin, one of the country’s most famous black preachers. She sang at an early age at his church in Detroit, which was also a stop for famous singers like Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, and civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr. By the time Aretha was 15 she had two children, and had already released her first album, Songs of Faith. Even after she was signed to Columbia Records, her fame was never guaranteed. The label tried to market her as a jazz singer in the vein of Billie Holiday, to little acclaim. It was only after she signed with Atlantic Records and began working with producer Jerry Wexler that the true Queen of Soul emerged—at an unlikely music studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There, with a backing band of unusually funky white musicians, she recorded the soul-baring single “I’ve Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” in 1967. “Coming to Muscle Shoals was the turning point in my career,” [the singer said in a documentary about the studio](. The song’s raw opening lines—“You’re no good / heartbreaker / You’re a liar and you’re a cheat / And I don’t know why / I let you do you these things to me”—could have been ripped from her own tumultuous life, which included an abusive marriage to Ted White, her husband at the time. When the song was finished, White got into a brawl with the manager of the studio, and Aretha quickly returned to New York. But on the strength of “Never Loved a Man,” her new sound took shape. The Muscle Shoals musicians traveled to New York to finish the album—her 11th in 11 years—and with their backing she recorded a string of hit albums and songs that laid the groundwork for her entire career, including “Do Right Woman,” “Dr. Feelgood,” and, most of all, [“Respect.”]( 🐦 [Tweet this!]( Reuters/Eric Thayer Quotables “The girl has taken that song from me. Ain’t no longer my song. From now on, it belongs to her.” —[Otis Redding]( after hearing Aretha’s version of “Respect” “What distinguishes her is not merely the breadth of her catalogue or the cataract force of her vocal instrument; it’s her musical intelligence, her way of singing behind the beat, of spraying a wash of notes over a single word or syllable, of constructing, moment by moment, the emotional power of a three-minute song. “Respect” is as precise an artifact as a Ming vase.” —[New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick]( “I always felt that nothing too bad could happen in the world while I was listening to Aretha Franklin. Everything was good, including that I could dance with nobody around. True, there was a line in ‘Respect’ that made me anxious for both of us: something like, ‘I’m about to give you all my money.’ But I figured Aretha knew what she was doing, and nobody was going to mess with her. With us.” —[Gloria Steinem]( Giphy Pop quiz Which of these artists has not done a duet with Aretha Franklin? Frank SinatraLuciano PavarottiGeorge MichaelBritney Spears Correct. Britney did, however, perform an ill-conceived cover of Aretha’s anthem “Think.” Incorrect. Nope. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Playlist Deep cuts --------------------------------------------------------------- [Screen Shot 2018-08-16 at 2.05.54 PM] [Here’s a selection of songs]( that shows Aretha’s unequaled music range, whether she’s recording spirituals, her own material, or songs made famous by others. take me down this 🐰 hole! The spellbinding Aretha concert that the public has never seen --------------------------------------------------------------- At the peak of her creative powers in 1972, Aretha spent two days returning to her gospel roots with a live recording at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The album Amazing Grace became the best-selling gospel record of all time—but the live film version, directed by Sydney Pollack, which was supposed to be released as a double bill alongside Superfly, has never been shown. A former Atlantic Records employee named Alan Elliott tried to revive the footage by buying the negative from Warner Brothers and meticulously syncing up the audio and video (Pollack, who had never filmed live music before, had initially botched the job.) But Aretha, for unknown reasons, [successfully sued to stop the film’s release]( at a film festival in 2015. “It isn’t that I’m not happy about the film, because I love the film itself,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “It’s just that—well, legally I really should just not talk about it, because there are problems.” For now, [all we have is the trailer]( In 2015, Tonight Show bandleader and Roots drummer Questlove [wrote on Instagram]( “Of all the ‘inside industry’ stuff I’ve been privy to learn about NOTHING has tortured my soul more than knowing one of the GREATEST recorded moments in gospel history was just gonna sit on the shelf and collect dust. … The 6 times I’ve been in presence of the queen I didn’t bother w niceties like ‘can I take a photo’ or ‘when will we play together on the show!?’ even before I redo introductions I plead much to her chagrin ‘please sign off on this film so the world can truly know you are the greatest.’” Watch this! Aretha sings “I Never Loved a Man” live. Giphy The queen of funk --------------------------------------------------------------- “Here’s a tip: when you’re deejaying a party, open with ‘Rock Steady.’” [—Barack Obama]( He’s not wrong. “Rock Steady” is a strong contender for Aretha’s funkiest song, thanks in large part to its hall-of-fame rhythm section, including: Chuck Rainey on bass, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Donny Hathaway on organ, Dr. John on percussion, and the legendary Bernard Purdie—Aretha’s music director in the early 1970s—on drums. When Aretha’s music fell off her piano, one of music’s greatest accidents happened, [Purdie explained to NPR]( “The red light was on — the red light means you always are recording. Tape was very, very expensive. We kept the music going, and I captured [the eight bars]( that has taken me around the world. Everybody thought it was the most phenomenal drum break in my life—and all I was doing was keeping my time. I just smile, because 98 percent of the people of the world didn’t know my drum break was an accident. I love it.” Here’s [Aretha doing the song]( sans band, on Soul Train: The queen of shade --------------------------------------------------------------- “Aretha’s always had problems with her female contemporaries. Her fantasy is that they would all disappear and she and she alone would be the only singer. Her fantasy is to eliminate the competition. By not acknowledging them—whether it’s Gladys [Knight] or Mavis [Staples] or even younger artists like Natalie [Cole] or Whitney [Houston]—in her mind, she’s making them go away.” —[Erma Franklin]( Aretha’s sister. [Gawker’s Rich Juzwiak]( has a great accounting of Aretha’s many feuds and rival run-ins. And here’s a snippet from the well-named VH1 “Divas” concert in 1998, when she faced off against Celine Dion. Fun Fact! After being burned by shady promoters, Aretha had a strict policy: She insisted on being paid [$25,000 in cash]( small portion of her overall fee—before the show began. “The cash goes into her handbag,” New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote in [his outstanding profile]( “and the handbag either stays with her security team or goes out onstage and resides, within eyeshot, on the piano.” Giphy Poll What was Aretha’s greatest song? [Click here to vote]( RespectNatural WomanChain of FoolsRock Steady let's talk! According to yesterday’s poll about [burritos]( 58% of you do not believe that a tortilla full of deliciousness is a sandwich—three times the percentage of you who do. 📪 Joel wrote: “How can you write about burritos without writing about [chile]( It’s like writing about spaghetti without mentioning sauce.” ✏️ [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20Aretha&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🐰 [What have you been obsessing over this week?](mailto:obsession%2Bprompt@qz.com?cc=&subject=Take%20us%20down%20a%20rabbit%20hole.%20&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:replace_with_friends_email@qz.com?cc=obsession%2Bforward@qz.com&subject=Paying%20R.E.S.P.E.C.T.%20to%20the%20Queen%20of%20Soul&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0ARead%20it%20here%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1360749) 💬Discuss this topic now with other [Obsession Obsessives on Reddit](. Keep obsessing 😍 Revisit the Quartz Obsessions on: 🎵 [National anthems]( 🎧 [Spotify]( 📣 [Sonic weapons]( 🎹 [ABBA]( The fine print Today’s email was written by [Adam Pasick]( edited by [Whet Moser,]( produced by [Luiz Romero](. The correct answer to the quiz is Britney Spears. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! If you click a link to an e-commerce site and make a purchase, we may receive a small cu