Aretha Franklin (39 page)

“The people around her are afraid to tell her that she looks horrible in some of the outfits that she chooses,” claims one of her business associates from Detroit. “It is really a shame, because she is such a wonderful woman. People are scared to tell her anything critical, even though it is for her own good. It is sad, because she ends up looking silly instead of sophisticated or fashionable.”

That same summer, Aretha appeared on another television special,
Motown on Showtime: The Temptations and The Four Tops
. Franklin was seen sitting at the piano in a Detroit sound stage, harmonizing with Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops. Together they reminisced candidly about the Tops' performance at Aretha's wedding in the late seventies, and they harmonized on the song “Isn't She Lovely.” In many ways this brief segment with the Four Tops revealed more about Aretha—the private person—than her entire hour on-stage at the Music Hall. Surrounded by her old friends, she appeared much more relaxed and informal. It was also a pleasure to see her as the accomplished pianist that she is, displaying her talents at the keyboards with the casual ease of a living room sing-along.

Who's Zoomin' Who?
was such an enormous success that when the time came for her next release, the logical plan was to return to the same winning formula. Again, the album was made up of nine songs, with the production duties divided in the same way: six cuts produced by Narada Michael Walden, two produced by Aretha, and one by a big-name rock & roll star—Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Adhering to the winning format, her 1986 album also contained two superstar duets. This time around it was George Michael and Larry Graham who each shared the microphone on one song apiece with her.

Confusingly, the album was titled
Aretha
, as had been the title of her 1980 Arista debut LP. However, the results were far better. Although distinctly different from
Zoomin'
, the
Aretha
1986 album was a continuation of the high-quality music that
Who's Zoomin' Who?
had contained, while breaking some new ground.

The first single released from
Aretha
was a remake of one of the Rolling Stones' greatest hits, “Jumpin' Jack Flash.” This hard-rocking version of the song was produced by Keith Richards, with the group's guitarist, Ron Wood, playing guitar on the cut. According to Aretha, when the pair of Stones came to Detroit to work on the song, it was the first time she had met either one of them. “I'd met Mick [Jagger],” she explained. “When I was in London, he came backstage and we had a nice little chat. He's very down-to-earth. And then Mick and Ahmet [Ertegun] are very close, so of course I'd run into him now and then.”

Although Mick had pursued solo projects away from the Rolling Stones, Keith had taken longer to find his confidence away from the group. He claims that producing the cut for Franklin's album was just the assignment that he was looking for. “Before the Aretha thing, I think I was terrified of doing something myself. Now I know I can,” says Richards.

Not only was the song used on Aretha's album, but it was also used as the title track for the Whoopie Goldberg film of the same name. In fact, Goldberg, Richards, and Wood all came to Detroit to film the music video that accompanied the song. In it Aretha wore an outrageous, tiger-striped, knicker-length jumpsuit, a leather jacket, and a wild punk hair do—complete with an askew ponytail hanging off the right side.

According to Clive Davis, this project was one that he and Aretha had a difference of opinion on. “I saw the movie—without the music—and they had asked for Aretha to do the title song,” he recalls. “I was not that impressed with the movie. I liked it a little bit, but I had more misgivings about the film. So I told her, ‘I think it's a mediocre film.' But she was intrigued with working with Whoopie. So, she said, ‘Look, I understand what you're saying, but I'll do it.' So then I came up with the Keith Richards idea, proposed it to Keith [as producer], and he said yes.”

When “Jumpin' Jack Flash” was released, it peaked at Number Twenty-two on the pop charts and Number Twenty on the R&B chart. The next single, “Jimmy Lee,” produced by Narada Michael Walden hit Number Twenty-eight on the pop chart, and Number Two on the R&B chart, in February 1987. However, it was the third single that performed the magic trick of hitting Number One not only on the American pop and R&B charts, but internationally.

The song was the superstar duet to end them all—Aretha Franklin and George Michael. Michael, fresh from a hot streak as half of the vocal duet Wham!, had begun doing guest appearances on other people's albums, while he was planning his debut solo LP. The duet performance of Aretha and George was a perfect vehicle for both singers. It exposed Aretha to the young record buyers that Michael was attracting, and Aretha lent the kind of legitimacy to George's career that the pop star lacked. Beyond the demographics of the single's marketing, the song “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” was simply an excellent performance by all parties involved.

In April 1987, exactly twenty years after the release of her first Number One pop smash, “Respect,” Aretha was back where she belonged—on top of the charts around the world. With “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” Lady Soul scored her seventeenth Top Ten pop hit, breaking the previous record of sixteen which was set by Connie Francis and her 1962 hit, “Vacation.” But then, hit-making and record breaking were becoming a way of life for Aretha.

“The George Michael project, I put together,” says Clive Davis. “He called me after he left Wham! He called me for the sole and explicit purpose of my finding a song, picking the producer, and him working with Aretha—and that's what I did. I called her up and recommended
it—I explained to her who George was. In contemporizing her, and keeping her contemporary, it was beneficial, really, for both artists. For him, he was looking to establish individual credibility, and that he was not just a pop artist. And, for her, she was able to reach a teenage audience that was important for her to be known by. So the difficulty was finding a song. As luck would have it, Tom Sturgess of Chrysalis Music got ‘I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),' and sent it to me. I just thought it would be perfect as a duet, and I sent it to both artists, and they loved it. And that's how it happened.”

For George Michael, recording with Aretha was a dream come true. According to him, “Quite simply, she's the best! As much as I love a lot of other female artists, there's no one who touches her.”

In addition to containing the Number One smash “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” the 1986 album
Aretha
was certified Gold, and also yielded several more solid performances. It included a song that she and Larry Graham had originally recorded as a duet for
Who's Zoomin' Who?,
called “If You Need My Love Tonight,” which was saved for this album. There was also the rocking Top Forty R&B hit “Rock-A-Lott,” and the beautiful Aretha-produced ballad “Look to the Rainbow.” (The latter was written in the 1940s by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and Burton Lane. It was Harburg's follow-up song to his
Wizard of Oz
signature song, “Over the Rainbow,” which he had written in the 1930s with Harold Arlen. These are two of Aretha's all-time favorite songs from her childhood. Since she had recorded “Over the Rainbow” on her first Columbia album in 1960, it was only fitting that she should come full circle to record the sequel in 1986.)

To complete the package, the album cover was a portrait of Aretha by Andy Warhol. It was one of his last pieces of artwork, as he suddenly died in early 1987. Warhol had once done a series of four portraits called “Reigning Queens,” which included Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. How fitting that he should add the Queen of Soul to his gallery of masterpieces before he died.

To fully underscore Aretha's 1980s resurgence, in 1987 her first video cassette,
Aretha: Ridin' on the Freeway
, was released by RCA / Columbia Home Video. It contained her video performances of “Freeway of Love,”
“Another Night,” “Jimmy Lee,” “Jumpin' Jack Flash,” and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).” The supporting cast naturally included George Michael, Keith Richards, Whoopie Goldberg, Ron Wood, and Clarence Clemons.

Arif Mardin, who worked with Aretha at Atlantic and at Arista, was especially pleased with her career comeback. “She was extremely successful with Atlantic, but then, like many good marriages, sometimes things get stale,” he points out. “So Clive Davis, obviously, is a very astute record man. He should get an award for the job he did with the acts he has—especially the ladies like Aretha, Dionne, and, of course, Whitney [Houston]. He developed the artists to the right point.”

Jerry Wexler likewise claims, “I'm just overjoyed that she came back with such a tremendous blast, and returned as a big artist again, after being dormant for so long.”

Adding to Aretha's growing list of awards, in January 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Well, the doors are open, girls!” Aretha laughed with delight at the distinction. “Seriously, I thought it was fabulous, and I'm delighted to be held in that esteem.” Although she didn't get into a plane (or train, for that matter) to pick up her citation, she sent her brother Cecil, and was thrilled with the honor.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was formed in 1984 by a group of music industry executives, to salute the achievements of singers, groups, and musicians who have shaped rock history. A group of 200 rock and pop music experts—including critics and producers—nominate and then vote on the Hall of Fame's annual inductees. To be eligible for consideration, a recording artist must have released his or her first record twenty-five years ago. The first awards ceremony took place in 1986, and the likes of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, James Brown, and Sam Cooke were honored.

Aretha was indicated into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the second year. Also honored at the black-tie gala that January at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City were a stellar list of co-inductees, including Marvin Gaye, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Little Richard, B. B. King, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley, the Coasters, Joe Turner, Muddy Waters,
Clyde McPhatter, and Aretha's childhood friend Smokey Robinson. “It was certainly a milestone in my career!” she exclaimed.

In March 1988, Aretha had to start making more trophy space in her living room. When the thirtieth annual Grammy Awards were presented at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, she took her thirteenth and fourteenth Grammys, to become the female artist with the greatest number of the awards in any category. The song “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” won as the “Best R&B Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus,” and her 1986 album
Aretha
won as the “Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.” Her thirteenth award beat Ella Fitzgerald's number of Grammys, and Aretha's fourteenth surpassed the record previously held by opera singer Leontyne Price.

Again, Aretha remained in Detroit for the awards. She hadn't traveled any farther than Chicago or Cleveland in several years, and she wasn't about to break her self-imposed exile for a couple more trophies—especially since she already had a dozen of them in her home.

Did Aretha celebrate that triumphant Grammy night by partying all night long in Detroit? No, she stayed in her Bloomfield Hills home with her boyfriend, Willie Wilkerson, and viewed the show on television. According to her, “I had a nice pot of Great Northern beans on and some cornbread, and we just enjoyed eating and watching the show.” That's Aretha Franklin—living legend, and undisputed queen of the house!

M
ost Detroiters in show business have to venture out of Los Angeles or New York City to find work—but if you're the Queen of Soul, the work comes to you. Since Aretha generally refuses to leave the Motor City, the producers of all of her projects now have to work around her geographic demands. That suits Aretha just fine; not only does she get to enjoy the constant comfort of her two Detroit residences, but she is actively promoting the facilities of her hometown. Her travel boycott has focused more music-industry attention on Detroit than has anything else since the ascendancy of Motown Records in the 1960s.

“Detroit has, and the suburban areas have, everything that any other metropolitan major city has today,” said Aretha in 1985. “And I've just about seen it all! Beautiful suburban areas: Bloomfield, Birmingham, Wabeek—it's gorgeous. The fishing is great if you like to fish. There are lakes everywhere. Gee, there must be at least seven lakes in this area. And Mayor [Coleman] Young has just done a fabulous, fabulous job with the waterfront downtown. You have River Front [a downtown apartment complex], which is just gorgeous, and there are a number of new constructions going up along the waterfront. Honey, listen, Detroit is coming into its own, and absolutely arriving in a big, big way!”