Respect
The Life of Aretha Franklin
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £0.99
Publisher Description
This "comprehensive and illuminating" biography of the Queen of Soul (USA Today) was hailed by Rolling Stone as "a remarkably complex portrait of Aretha Franklin's music and her tumultuous life."
Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice. It was not until 1967, when a white Jewish producer insisted she return to her gospel-soul roots, that fame and fortune finally came via "Respect" and a rapidfire string of hits. She continued to evolve for decades, amidst personal tragedy, surprise Grammy performances, and career reinventions.
Again and again, Aretha stubbornly found a way to triumph over troubles, even as they continued to build. Her hold on the crown was tenacious, and in Respect, David Ritz gives us the definitive life of one of the greatest talents in all American culture.
Customer Reviews
Well worth a read.
I am loving this book. I have been a fan of Aretha's music for many years. Her autobiography was so boring, and while the other biography written by a Mr. Bego was good, this is better. We all know Aretha is a diva, and this book is made up from interviews with her family, friends and people in the music industry, and it does not paint her in a nice light.
On a recent interview on Wall Street Journal she dismissed this book, saying it was all lies, lies, lies, and then more lies on top.
Aretha is a singer, nothing more, she has not discovered a cure for cancer or AIDS, she has now stopped wars, she just sings songs, and yet she seems to think she is the Queen of Sheba.
She may be the Queen of Soul, but if she continues making albums as bad as her latest then it may be time for an abdication.
Great book, no matter what Aretha says.