classical piano education, and in fact stood in at one of the grammys and jumped in when her great friend was i m trying to remember which great singer it was bpavarotti. and ended up singing his arias. you re talking about smoky robinson who was a great friend of aretha s older brother, and came over to the big franklin house on oakland avenue in detroit and saw what he called a cutie pie playing the piano, she was 3 or 4 years old, and that was aretha franklin. she did have great musical talent in every respect. and of course her style. i will never forget the gray looked like felt hat, robin, at the inaugural the obama
these amazing funeral services in detroit because so many phenomenal people have come out of that city. she also sang at the memorial service for rosa parks, who also was the service was in the same greater grace temple that she s being honored at today. so this, detroit is has had a lot of difficult times. aretha moved away from detroit but always came back. a few years ago she established herself back in detroit in her final few years. i think this is all part of the glory of detroit and its attempt to come back as a great city. and of course we shouldn t forget that only this week we have had the water problem in detroit city schools and flint and all the rest of it. yes. it s a very complex picture. we just saw a shot, by the way, david, of smoky robinson, so thanks for that reminder.
of my favorite singers and had that kind of voice where you heard one or two notes and you knew instantly who it was, you stopped what you re doing and cranked the volume up. that body of work she left us, we will of course get to enjoy for a very long time. and you mentioned those pink cadillacs, they re just off our camera position this way, there must be 115 of those cadillacs down there, we re all joking about when those drivers come out from the service to get back in their cars, it may take them a while to figure out whose car is who, there are so many similar-looking cadillacs. it will be a scene, from the greater grace temple to woodlawn cemetery where she ll be buried alongside her dad and other family members. it s been a great day, a great week in detroit, and we re looking forward to just listening to that voice resonate for a very long time, andrea. we ve been watching your coverage, ron, and some of the people in the line have been
detroit home. these people love her for that, andrea. and of course her father, the minister, of course, was one of the big clergymen. she comes from a long line of civil rights leaders. she was really part of the movement. and it s interesting to see the panoply of civil rights leaders, of course right there at the church we see reverend al, we see the reverend jesse jackson who has been diagnosed with parkinson s disease but was so close to aretha franklin and is part of that legacy. bill clinton of course there, going to give one of the eulogy owegies. and of course the reverend farrakhan, the controversial leader of the nation of slaem,
special edition of velshi & ruhle. time now for andrea mitchell reports. and today the world and detroit bidding a final farewell to the indisputable queen of soul. you heard faith hill. aretha franklin being laid to rest today in her hometown, m moto motown, of course detroit. franklin died at 76 following her battle with cancer. she was brought in the hearse that once carried rosa parks. the streets outside are lined with pink cadillacs in a nod to her hit song freeway of love. the service is about an hour behind schedule. it includes star-studded musical tributes honoring franklin s life and legacy. and of course political tributes. hillary and bill clinton are there. bill clinton arriving to a standing ovation as they avoid at the service.