Hey Nineteen
That’s ‘Retha Franklin
She don’t remember the Queen of Soul
 

Well, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagan sure got that right. How sad it is to be too young to remember the soulful singing of Aretha Franklin who we just lost at the age of 76.

I was fortunate enough to grow up hearing her on New York Top 40 radio. I later loved how she stole The Blues Brothers movie, and I once saw her home in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Thankfully, I also got to see her perform live here in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium on April 25, 2010. (Check out below some of the photos I took that night.)

Hearing her sing in person was about as fabulous as I could have ever expected. She sounded so good, and I was also floored when she even sang one at the piano! I never even knew she played, and she played quite well.

Notice that bag in front of the piano in the middle photo below. It was brought out just before Aretha took the stage. The story goes, that after getting ripped off so many times in her early days, she began requiring a cash payment ($25K at last report) up front or she would not perform. Now that’s something only a Queen can command!