droilt detroit s own aretha franklin. then president obama invited the divas there were a number of outstanding very talented women singers invited to entertain at the obama white house. bias, yes. aretha franklin stood head and shoulders she was an outstanding wonderful person who cared about people. she gave back to her church, her father s church. gave in any way she could. she had one of the biggest hearts that you ever want to find. she would always be a continuous supporter of the city of detroit. when i traveled around the country and when i was mayor and was president of the american bar, i would go to different venues and would hear aretha franklin records being played. she was outstanding. she was well loved. detroit, a lot of people counted detroit down and out.
giving of herself as an artist. she just was so relatable. i loved that she stayed true to herself every moment of her career. it was never a time where you said, oh, aretha is trying to change to adapt to what s popular. that was never her. aretha was always aretha franklin. she set the bar and everyone adapted to her. she was the bar. cori, thank you so much. we continue to celebrate the life of aretha franklin after this. it s absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts, or it isn t. it s inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians, or it isn t.
soul will live on forever. we will spend this hour honoring that. stephanie el a elam is taking a at the woman, the legend. she was the queen of soul who garnered respect on and off stage. born aretha louise franklin in memphis, tennessee, she got her start at a young age at her father s church in detroit. she often credited him with nurturing her talent. he taught me a number of things having to do with timing and phrasing and different things like that and coaching me in different ways. he did say at one point that one day i would sing for kings and queens. he did say that. i have. franklin won her first grammy
aretha, the reverent jesse jackson senior. i m here. thank you for sharing with so many people today. our hearts are heavy. i m very sad because i miss aretha very much already. she had been ailing last few years. she fought back in a gallant way. yesterday we were at the house. we prayed yesterday. she appreciated the prayer. aretha sdefshdeserves respect. sg i know she s a private woman. i would never ask you to share the private conversations. what would you like to share about the moments that you have spent with aretha franklin? the highs, lows, i don t know, maybe the final moments. what do you want to impress upon people? reverend, are you there?
me is that the level of notoriety that she acquired, she was still accessible to the common person. that was indicated in her annual dinner and celebration that she had for the common man, who she called an artist gospel artist, secular artist and provide dinner for those folks on aretha. what s that like as a longtime detroit resident? what was it like to have aretha around and never levave the cit. that s common to detroit. detroit is a music town. most artists or celebrities, they never forget where they come from. thank you. i know we are short on time. you can see the impact she had on the city. thank leon for sharing with us. everyone s tribute is important today, even when death is expected, it s still it can hurt the same. aretha franklin, we will