The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait

By Linda Solomon, Burt Bacharach and Sabrina Vonne' Owens

"Aretha was private. I respected this and she trusted me." Linda Solomon met Aretha Franklin in 1983 when she was just beginning her career as a photojournalist and newspaper columnist. Franklin’s brother and business manager arranged for Solomon to capture the singer’s major career events—just as she was coming back home to Detroit from California—while Franklin requested that Solomon document everything else. Everything. And she did just that. What developed over these years of photographing birthday and Christmas parties in her home, annual celebrity galas, private backstage moments during national awards ceremonies, photo shoots with the iconic pink Cadillac, and more was a friendship between two women who grew to enjoy and respect one another.

The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait is a book full of firsts as Solomon was invited not only to capture historical events in Aretha’s music career showcasing Detroit but to join in with the Franklin family’s most intimate and cherished moments in her beloved hometown. From performance rehearsals with James Brown to off-camera shenanigans while filming a music video with the Rolling Stones, from her first television special to her first time performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to her last performance with her sisters at her father’s church and her son’s college graduation celebration. In the book’s afterword, Sabrina Vonne' Owens, Franklin’s niece, honors her aunt, a woman who was an overwhelming supporter of civil rights, women’s rights, and fundraising campaigns that helped to benefit her hometown. There was a time in her career—when Franklin was more in demand than ever before—when she insisted that if someone wanted her to perform, they had to come to Detroit. During this time all of her major concerts, national television specials, music videos, and commercials would happen in Detroit. Aretha Franklin showed her respect for the people in the city who championed her from the very beginning when she started singing as a young girl in the church choir.

Franklin used to say, "I am the lady next door when I am not on stage." The Queen Next Door offers fans a personal
and unseen look at an extraordinary woman in her most natural moments—both regal and intimate—and highlights
her devotion to her family and her hometown Detroit—"forever and ever."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Release date: Oct 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9780814347294

Linda Solomon

Linda Solomon is an award-winning photojournalist who divides her time between capturing the most famous personalities of our time and teaching children to express themselves through photography. She has developed educational programs that have reached over two million children throughout the United States. Her work providing cameras has been featured on CBS Evening News, and in People and USA Today.

Book preview

THE QUEEN NEXT DOOR

The Queen Next Door

Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait

LINDA SOLOMON

Foreword by

BURT BACHARACH

Afterword by

SABRINA VONNE’ OWENS

Copyright © 2019 by Linda Solomon. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. Manufactured in the United States of America.

Cover design and interior book design by Amanda Weiss

ISBN 978-0-8143-4728-7 (hardback);

ISBN 978-0-8143-4729-4 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019938101

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Leonard N. Simons Building

4809 Woodward Avenue

Detroit, Michigan 48201–1309

Visit us online at wsupress.wayne.edu

For Barry . . . always and forever

To my mom and best friend, Mona Rappaport, whose extraordinary memory for every detail of my life helped me select the most special times with Aretha.

To my dad, Daniel J. Rappaport, a blessed memory, whose respect and love for music is my inspiration.

In loving memory of Erma Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Reverend Cecil Franklin, and our Queen Aretha Franklin, who gave her heart and her soul to Detroit. My admiration, gratitude, and R E S P E C T forever and ever . . .

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

1983: April

Singing at the Piano . . .

1983: May

The Franklin Family at the Mayor’s Residence

1984: June

Aretha’s Heartfelt Concert

1985: April

Helping Others

1985: August

Recording with Motown Stars

1985: September

Standing-Room Only Concerts

1985: October

Detroit Institute of Arts Benefit

1985: December

Christmas at Home

1986

Michigan’s Precious Natural Resource

1986: January

Live Backstage at the American Music Awards

1986: February

Pink Cadillac

1986: May

Aretha, Showtime Special

1986: June

College Graduation Party

1986: July

Aretha and the Rolling Stones

1986: November

Honored by the United Negro College Fund

1987: January

The Queen of Soul and the Godfather of Soul!

1987: July

Aretha’s Hope

1987: July

New Bethel Baptist Church Live Recording

1987: December

Christmas at Home

1988: March

Aretha’s Message to Our Youth

1988: July

A Queen’s Masquerade Ball

1988: August

The Queen on the Presidential Yacht

1988: August

All Alone Before a Concert

1989: March

Star-studded Birthday Party

1991: March

Aretha’s Birthday at the Ritz

1992: June

Aretha the Ballerina

1998: November

Aretha’s First Performance with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

2007: August

In the Hamptons with Her Grandchildren

2018: August 31

R E S P E C T

Afterword

Gratitude & Respect

FOREWORD

Aretha never ceased to amaze me. Vocally, just astonishing. No one like her . . . no one ever will be like her. Her musicality, the way she could work at the piano and be so creative at the piano, never was a sight reader only playing by ear, which was totally amazing to me. I went to record her once in Detroit but talked to her on the phone from LA beforehand about the song we were doing. I played the song and the key I thought would be the right key for Aretha and she said no. She went to the piano and said it’s too low, I can sing it two notes higher. She then sat at the piano and played the song in the key she wanted to sing it in. I was quite astonished . . . she was right on the money. She was just amazing. And to take a song like Say a Little Prayer, which I thought we had made a pretty good recording of with Dionne, and make Aretha’s version . . . it was so much better. I wanted her voice and her life to live forever. I miss