started playing the bridge to natural woman. carole king described turning to her daughter behind her and saying, oh, my god, she s playing natural woman for me, she described herself as this jewish woman from new york writing for aretha franklin. and of course that song is the anthem for so many women of any age and any color. david, what has this meant, do you think, to the city of detroit, to have this tribute, ten-day-long, however long it s been since aretha s death, i ve lost track, and had this great celebration? you know, i was thinking, andrea, that when aretha franklin was first coming into her own in late 1962, she sang at her father s church at the memorial service for the great dinah washington. and there have been so many of
captured some of our deepest human desires, namely affection and respect, and through her voice, her own voice, aretha lifted those of millions empowering and inspiring the vulnerable, the downtrodden, and everyone who may have just needed a little love. aretha was truly one of a kind. and as you pay tribute, know we ll be saying a little prayer for you and we ll be thinking of all of aretha s loved ones in the days and weeks to come. sincerely, barack obama, 44th president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] please receive motown great if anybody can follow that, it s going to be smokey robinson
but what we remember most is that amazing voice, a voice unlike any other that we could all sing too even if none of us could sing like aretha franklin. it combined so many elements of her and of america. she was of detroit, wasn t part of motown but is as good or better than any of the motown singers. she came out of the church, the gospel choir of her father, the reverend c.l. franklin. she could combine gospel with rock and soul. and even opera. she could do it all. that s why she s so much more than an image. and i was so struck by learning something i have not known, she was first of all, she played the piano. her mother was a pianist. she played the piano from childhood. one of her childhood friends saying when she was 5 years old she was on the keyboard. she went and enrolled in julliard in the late 90s because she wanted to refine her
to detroit and in the 1950s developed probably the most powerful ministry in detroit, the first bethel baptist church, located in what was then the black bottom of detroit, and was so popular that hundreds of people would line up to listen to her sermons on the loudspeaker. he also was very active in civil rights and was the driving force that brought martin luther king to detroit in the summer of 1963, where he delivered his i have a dream speech a few months before it became famous in washington. and aretha herself continued that message over the years, singing and supporting civil rights at every possible opportunity. and david, right now reverend al sharpton, our colleague and friend, is speaking, and i want to listen to his message. it is easy to celebrate the gifts that god gives. it is more difficult when
tribute to her husband. we are going to pause for a moment on this day, a split screen day of memories, and go back to detroit, where ariana grande is about to sing natural woman. feel so tired, before the day you make me feel like a natural woman when my soul was in the lost and found you came along to claim it