ARETHA FRANKLIN, NATURAL WOMAN & QUEEN OF SOUL

Aretha Franklin

Today, The Grandma is still at home reading, watching TV and listening to music. She has chosen Aretha Franklin's greatest hits to pay homage to the Queen of Soul, who died on a day like today two years ago.

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942-August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, and civil rights activist.

Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister.

At the age of 18, she embarked on a secular-music career as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While Franklin's career did not immediately flourish, she found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966.

Hit songs such as I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools, Think, and I Say a Little Prayer propelled her past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as the Queen of Soul.

Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), Spirit in the Dark (1970), Young, Gifted and Black (1972), Amazing Grace (1972), and Sparkle (1976) before experiencing problems with her record company.

Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records. She appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers before releasing the successful albums Jump to It (1982), Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985), and Aretha (1986) on the Arista label.

More information: Aretha Franklin

In 1998, Franklin returned to the Top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song A Rose Is Still a Rose; later, she released an album of the same name which was certified gold. That same year, Franklin earned international acclaim for her performance of Nessun dorma at the Grammy Awards; she filled in at the last minute for Luciano Pavarotti, who canceled his appearance after the show had already begun.

In a widely noted performance, she paid tribute to 2015 honoree Carole King by singing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles.

Besides the foregoing, Franklin's well-known hits also include Ain't No Way, Call Me, Don't Play That Song (You Lied), Spanish Harlem, Rock Steady, Day Dreaming, Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), Something He Can Feel, Jump to It, Freeway of Love, Who's Zoomin' Who, and I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), a duet with George Michael.

With Luther King, James Brown & Blue Brothers

She won 18 Grammy Awards, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975).

Franklin is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 1987, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her number one on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number nine on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. 

The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2019 awarded Franklin a posthumous special citation for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.

More information: Rolling Stone

Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, to Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn C. L. Franklin. She was delivered at her family's home located at 406 Lucy Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.

Her father was a Baptist minister and circuit preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist.

Just after her mother's death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me.

When Franklin was 12, her father began managing her; he would bring her on the road with him during his so-called gospel caravan tours for her to perform in various churches. He also helped her sign her first recording deal with J.V.B. Records. Recording equipment was installed inside New Bethel Baptist Church and nine tracks were recorded. Franklin was featured on vocals and piano.

In 1956, J.V.B. released Franklin's first single, Never Grow Old, backed with You Grow Closer. Precious Lord (Part One) backed with Precious Lord (Part Two) followed in 1959. These four tracks, with the addition of There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood, were released on side one of the 1956 album, Spirituals. This was reissued by Battle Records in 1962 under the same title.

With B. Streisand, W. Houston & The Divas VH1

In 1965, Checker Records released Songs of Faith, featuring the five tracks from the 1956 Spirituals album, with the addition of four previously unreleased recordings. After turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke in recording pop music, and moved to New York. Serving as her manager, C. L. Franklin agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960.

Mostly produced by Clyde Otis, Franklin's Columbia recordings saw her performing in diverse genres such as standards, vocal jazz, blues, doo-wop and rhythm and blues.

In the 1960s, during a performance at the Regal Theater, WVON radio personality Pervis Spann announced that Franklin should be crowned the Queen of Soul. 

In November 1966, Franklin's Columbia recording contract expired and she chose to move to Atlantic Records.

In April, Atlantic issued her frenetic version of Otis Redding's Respect, which reached number one on both the R&B and pop charts. Respect became her signature song and was later hailed as a civil rights and feminist anthem.

Franklin's debut Atlantic album, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, also became commercially successful, later going gold.

Franklin scored two more top-ten singles in 1967, including Baby I Love You and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

More information: NPR

In 1968, she issued the top-selling albums Lady Soul and Aretha Now, which included some of her most popular hit singles, including Chain of Fools, Ain't No Way, Think and I Say a Little Prayer. That February, Franklin earned the first two of her Grammys, including the debut category for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Franklin's career began to experience problems while recording the album, Hey Now Hey, which featured production from Quincy Jones.

Franklin's follow-up albums for Atlantic, including Sweet Passion (1977), Almighty Fire (1978) and La Diva (1979), bombed on the charts, and in 1979 Franklin left the company.

In 1980, after leaving Atlantic Records, Franklin signed with Clive Davis's Arista Records and that same year gave a command performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in front of Queen Elizabeth.

On the 8 February, 2008, Franklin was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year, and performed Never Gonna Break My Faith, which she had won the Grammy for best Gospel performance the year before.

While Franklin canceled some concerts in 2017 due to health reasons, and during an outdoor Detroit show, she asked the audience to keep me in your prayers, she was still garnering highly favorable reviews for her skill and showmanship.

At the Ravinia Festival on September 3, 2017, she gave her last full concert. Franklin's final performance was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City during Elton John's 25th anniversary gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation on November 7, 2017.

From her time growing up in the home of a prominent African-American preacher to the end of her life, Franklin was immersed and involved in the struggle for civil rights and women's rights.

Franklin died at her home on August 16, 2018, aged 76, without a will.

Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan natural resource in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994.

More information: Forbes

Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

She was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015. Franklin became the second woman inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. She was the 2008 MusiCares Person of the Year, performing at the Grammys days later.

In 2019 she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades. Franklin was the first individual woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.

Franklin received honorary degrees from Harvard University and New York University in 2014, as well as honorary doctorates in music from Princeton University, 2012; Yale University, 2010; Brown University, 2009; University of Pennsylvania, 2007; Berklee College of Music, 2006; New England Conservatory of Music, 1997; and University of Michigan, 1987. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Case Western Reserve University 2011 and Wayne State University in 1990 and an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Bethune–Cookman University in 1975.

More information: CR Fashion Book

Being the Queen is not all about singing,

and being a diva is not all about singing.

It has much to do with your service to people.

And your social contributions to your community

and your civic contributions as well.

Aretha Franklin

LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, MERGING OPERA & POPULAR MUSIC

Luciano Pavarotti

Today, The Grandma is at home. There are some days in which is difficult to go out and enjoy the city because it receives unpleasant visits of people who only want to create disturbs and confrontation. Today is one of these days.

The Grandma has relaxed listening to some classic music. She loves this genre and she likes listening to Luciano Pavarotti, her favourite tenor, the Italian artist who was born on a day like today in 1935.

Before listening to Pavarotti's songs, The Grandma has read a new chapter of Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories.

Luciano Pavarotti (12 October 1935-6 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, gaining worldwide fame for the quality of his tone, and eventually established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century, achieving the honorific title king of the high C's.

Pavarotti became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. From the beginning of his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy to his final performance of Nessun dorma at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Pavarotti was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles, and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca, Turandot and Madama Butterfly.

He sold over 100 million records, and the first Three Tenors recording became the best-selling classical album of all time.  Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died from pancreatic cancer on 6 September 2007.

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker.

Luciano Pavarotti

Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming. After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training.

Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day -Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa, and Enrico Caruso.

Pavarotti's favourite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano and he was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying: In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror. At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.

More information: Luciano Pavarotti

After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports -in Pavarotti's case football above all, he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly.

Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. According to conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti never learned to read music.

In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961.

Luciano Pavarotti

When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory.

Like Pavarotti, Freni went on to become a successful opera singer; they would go on to collaborate in various stage performances and recordings together. During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself -first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a disastrous concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing.

Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography: Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve.

More information: The Luciano Pavarotti Foundation

Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961.

He made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. The same year saw his first concert outside Italy when he sang in Dundalk, Ireland for the St Cecilia's Gramophone Society and his Royal Opera House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe Di Stefano as Rodolfo.

At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La bohème and L'elisir d'amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La bohème and Un ballo in maschera.

Luciano Pavarotti

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La bohème in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La bohème in Beijing (Peking).

To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the inaugural concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of L'elisir d'amore and Un ballo in maschera. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.

Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of the aria Nessun dorma from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot was taken as the theme song of BBC's coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status, became the World Cup soundtrack, and it remained his trademark song.

Pavarotti's rise to stardom was not without occasional difficulties, however. He earned a reputation as The King of Cancellations by frequently backing out of performances, and his unreliable nature led to poor relationships with some opera houses.

More information: Classic FM

Over an eight-year period, Pavarotti had cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled appearances at the Lyric, and the decisive move by Krainik to ban him for life was well noted throughout the opera world, after the performer walked away from a season premiere less than two weeks before rehearsals began, saying pain from a sciatic nerve required two months of treatment.

Pavarotti began his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in old and new locations, after more than four decades on the stage. On 13 March 2004, Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera, for which he received a long standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca.

On 1 December 2004, he announced a 40-city farewell tour. Pavarotti and his manager, Terri Robson, commissioned impresario Harvey Goldsmith to produce the Worldwide Farewell Tour. His last full-scale performance was at the end of a two-month Australasian tour in Taiwan in December 2005.

Luciano Pavarotti

In March 2005, Pavarotti underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae. In early 2006, he underwent further back surgery and contracted an infection while in the hospital in New York, forcing cancellation of concerts in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

On 10 February 2006, Pavarotti sang Nessun dorma at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy, at his final performance. In the last act of the opening ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd.

Pavarotti annually hosted the Pavarotti & Friends charity concerts in his home town of Modena, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq.

After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.

More information: San Diego Union Tribune

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as the Spitak earthquake that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia in December 1988, and sang Gounod's Ave Maria with legendary French pop music star and ethnic Armenian Charles Aznavour.

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined to sing, as he felt he could not sing well with his grief in his throat. Nonetheless, he attended the service.

In 1998, he was appointed the United Nations Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.

Luciano Pavarotti

In 1999, Pavarotti performed a charity benefit concert in Beirut, to mark Lebanon's re-emergence on the world stage after a brutal 15 year civil war. The largest concert held in Beirut since the end of the war, it was attended by 20,000 people who travelled from countries as distant as Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.

In 1999 he also hosted a charity benefit concert to build a school in Guatemala, for Guatemalan civil war orphans. It was named after him Centro Educativo Pavarotti. Now the foundation of nobel prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum is running the school.

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than any other individual.

More information: SF Gate

Also in 2001, Pavarotti was chosen one of that year's five recipients by the President and First Lady as an honoree for their lifetime achievements in the arts at the White House, followed by the Kennedy Center; the Kennedy Center Honors, He was surprised by the appearance of Secretary-General of the United Nations and that year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kofi Annan, who lauded him for his contribution to humankind. Six months prior, Pavarotti had held a large charity concert for Afghan refugees, particularly children in his home town of Modena.

Other honours he received include the Freedom of London Award and The Red Cross Award for Services to Humanity, for his work in raising money for that organisation, and the 1998 MusiCares Person of the Year, given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

While proceeding with an international farewell tour, Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006. The tenor fought back against the implications of this diagnosis, undergoing major abdominal surgery and making plans for the resumption and conclusion of his singing commitments, but he died at his home in Modena on 6 September 2007.

More information: The Guardian

I want to reach as many people as possible

with the message of music, of wonderful opera.

Luciano Pavarotti