Aretha Franklin (3 page)

Is gospel music really her first love, or is it merely a creative outlet into which she escapes?

What kind of things was young Aretha exposed to while traveling on a bus from city-to-city with a gospel roadshow?

How old was Aretha when she had her first child, and who was the father?

Who was the black male pop star with whom she fell in love, and how did he inspire her?

In what way did Aretha become a symbol of black pride in the 1960s?

How much of her music was drawn from her own tragic personal life?

Did she sing the blues because she was living them?

When her first marriage broke up, into whose arms did she run?

What kind of emotional toll did her father's five-year coma and eventual death have on her?

Why does Aretha almost never leave Detroit? Like Scarlet O'Hara drawing her strength from the red earth of Tara, does Aretha derive her confidence from Detroit—or is she simply hiding there like a frightened child?

I felt as if I had just encountered one of the great unsolved mysteries of the show business world. The answers to these questions are all pieces of the puzzle that is the mesmerizing story of Aretha Franklin.

A
retha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, the fourth child in a family of five children. “There's Vaughn, the oldest, who was a career man in the Air Force,” she says of her siblings. “Then Erma, then Cecil—who's my manager—then myself, then Carolyn.”

Their household was infused with religion. Their father was a Baptist minister who was known for his emotional deliveries from the pulpit, and their mother was a renowned gospel singer. Aretha inherited her father's sense of drama and her mother's vocal talents. These talents helped to create a show business legend.

Much is known about Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin and his vivid flair for life. Born on January 22, 1915, he rose from modest beginnings amid the cotton fields of rural Mississippi, to be heralded as “The Man with the Million-Dollar Voice.” In the 1950s he reputedly commanded up to four thousand dollars per sermon. In the 1960s
Time
magazine claimed that his obvious success could be measured by his attraction to glitzy Cadillacs, diamond stickpins and expensive alligator shoes. He became known as a flashy
bon vivant
in the middle of the Detroit ghetto. With an inner-city congregation all his own, he delivered impassioned invocations with fervent charisma, and when he passed around the collection plate it always came back filled.

Time
wasn't the only observer of Reverend Franklin's financial prosperity. The Internal Revenue Service also took note of the fact that passing the collection plate was an unaccountable “cash” business and in the late sixties he was audited and fined for tax evasion.

Throughout her life, Aretha's father remained a key figure in her personal life
and
in her career. Regardless of who she married or where she was living, Reverend Franklin's thoughts and opinions were often to guide her. “He had a tremendous influence over her,” recalls one family friend. “I don't know if it was just as a father figure or what.”

Far less is known about her mother. Her maiden name was Barbara Siggers, and those who knew her often recalled her glorious singing voice. It is said that as a gospel singer, Barbara Siggers was in the same league with Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward. According to John Hammond, “Mahalia always told me that Aretha's mother was one of the really great gospel singers. She said she had more talent than Reverend C. L. Franklin.”