and set the pace for the rest of us as far as workmanship and all that kind of stuff, and i was 12 when i first heard her sing. you know? and my mom was part of the gospel singer and my aunt and all that, and she came home raving about this little girl franklin s little girl that sang never grow old . she said baby, you got to hear this lady sing, and from there on out, i just had an ear for her music. she touches you somewhere. it s not just lyrics and melody. you know? it s a life in the songs and the stories that she tells through this music. and that s what i learned how to do. yeah. in the beginning in. well, she was the original reary. i remember that was her nickname. now the folks are like what? i m talking about the riri.
the work that i do is that i get a chance to meet and have conversations with some really incredible people. more than once i ve met a hero of mine, but nothing compared to getting to know aretha franklin. miss franklin. you know, a lot of ways her music, her voice has been the sound track of my life. maybe yours too. for as long as i can remember, i ve been listening to there we are at her birthday party. i have been listening to and loving aretha. in my house, at picnics, cookouts, parties, in the car, on the plane. wherever i could listen to her. and the people who work on this show have heard me sing her songs more than a few times even in the commercial breaks here in the studio. they have to listen to me. but sitting down across from her just a few years ago, i was just about speechless.
that kind of stuff, and i was 12 when i first heard her sing. you know? and my mom was part of the gospel singer and my aunt and all that, and she came home raving about this little girl franklin s little girl that sang never grow old . she said baby, you got to hear this lady sing, and from there on out, i just had an ear for her music. she touches you somewhere. it s not just lyrics and melody. you know? it s a life in the songs and the stories that she tells through this music. and that s what i learned how to do. yeah. in the beginning in. well, she was the original reary. i remember that was her nickname. now the folks are like what? i m talking about the riri. yep. she said this morning she the
and so on and so forthright in the middle of the hood. so i lived on belmont. aretha lived on boston boulevard, which was one of these streets. we go to the house, and we re in there. it s like a mansion. you know? it s like all this stuff is in there. we growing up did not have privy to seeing because none of us had anything like that, but the reverend franklin was one of the most popular ministers in the country, so that s how they lived, but they didn t act that way. right. they were just right down front down people. they didn t act like that. we were all really good friends. we go into the house and we re walking around, and i hear a piano being played and somebody singing in a little voice from another room. okay? so i being curious about music always all my life, i go to see what s happening.
she does it a different way. or she does it her way. and aside from all that talent and creativity, she was just a beautiful human being. and very i met her, well, i saw her when she was like three or four years old. i was visiting her father who was a dear friend of mine, reverend franklin. and i was at her house, and she was like three or four years old, and she was on the piano playing and singing and having fun. and i thought, wow, what acute little kid, cute little kid. but i was not too bright. i was kind of stupid because i never thought about signing her or even talking to her at that age. and never really thought about it too much because i was so proud of her. and she was so close to all the mo town artists. she was like a part of my family, my sisters, my brothers.