Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin can be booked through this site. Aretha Franklin entertainment booking site. Aretha Franklin
is available for public concerts and events. Aretha Franklin can be booked for
private events and Aretha Franklin can be booked for corporate events and
meetings through this Aretha Franklin booking page.
Unlike most middle agents that would mark
up the performance or appearance fee for Aretha Franklin, we act as YOUR agent in
securing Aretha Franklin at the best possible price. We go over the rider for
Aretha Franklin and work directly with Aretha Franklin or the responsible agent for
Aretha Franklin to secure the talent for your event. We become YOUR agent,
representing YOU, the buyer.
In fact, in most cases we can negotiate for
the acquisition of Aretha Franklin for international dates and newer promoters
providing you meet professional requirements.
Aretha Franklin Biography
Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed
of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she
epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of
late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records -- Respect, I Never Loved a
Man, Chain of Fools, Baby I Love You, I Say a Little Prayer,
Think, The House That Jack Built, and several others -- earned her
the title Lady Soul, which she has worn uncontested ever since. Yet
as much of an international institution as she's become, much of her
work -- outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late '60s and
early '70s -- is erratic and only fitfully inspired, making discretion
a necessity when collecting her records.
Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep. With her sisters Carolyn
and Erma (both of whom would also have recording careers), she sang at
the Detroit church of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, while growing
up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel
artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was
interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny
start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to
which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond.
Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half
of the '60s, notching occasional R&B hits (and one Top 40 single,
Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody ) but never truly breaking
out as a star. The Columbia period continues to generate considerable
controversy among critics, many of whom feel that Aretha's true
aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production.
In fact, there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the
Columbia sides, including the occasional song ( Lee Cross,
Soulville ) where she belts out soul with real gusto. It's undeniably
true, though, that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than
what was to follow, and suffered in general from a lack of direction
and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around
entertainer, rather than as an R&B/soul singer.
When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic, producer Jerry Wexler was
determined to bring out her most soulful, fiery traits. As part of that
plan, he had her record her first single, I Never Loved a Man (The Way
I Love You), at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern
R&B musicians. In fact, that was to be her only session actually at
Muscle Shoals, but much of the remainder of her '60s work would be
recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, although the
sessions would actually take place in New York City. The combination
was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop: the backup
musicians provided a much grittier, soulful, and R&B-based
accompaniment for Aretha's voice, which soared with a passion and
intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for
the first time.
In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international
recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of
black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of
African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other
triumphs for the black community. The chart statistics are impressive
in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span
between early 1967 and late 1968, for instance, and a steady stream of
solid mid- to large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her
Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent
artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was
able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic
choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel,
blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel
to Sam Cooke and the Drifters. She was also a fine, forceful, and
somewhat underrated keyboardist.
Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early
'70s, during which she landed more huge hits with Spanish Harlem,
Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Day Dreaming. She also produced two
of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at
Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a
reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland and
the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top
Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of
all time.
Franklin had a few more hits over the next few years -- Angel and the
Stevie Wonder cover Until You Come Back to Me being the most notable
-- but generally her artistic inspiration seemed to be tapering off,
and her focus drifting toward more pop-oriented material. Her Atlantic
contract ended at the end of the 1970s, and since then she's managed to
get intermittent hits -- Who's Zooming Who and Jump to It are among
the most famous -- without remaining anything like the superstar she
was at her peak. Many of her successes were duets, or crafted with the
assistance of newer, glossier-minded contemporaries such as Luther
Vandross. There was also another return to gospel in 1987 with One
Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.
Critically, as is the case with many '60s rock legends, there have been
mixed responses to her later work. Some view it as little more than a
magnificent voice wasted on mediocre material and production. Others
seem to grasp for any excuse they can to praise her whenever there
seems to be some kind of resurgence of her soul leanings. Most would
agree that her post-mid-'70s recordings are fairly inconsequential when
judged against her prime Atlantic era. The blame is often laid at the
hands of unsuitable material, but it should also be remembered that --
like Elvis Presley and Ray Charles -- Franklin never thought of herself
as confined to one genre. She always loved to sing straight pop songs,
even if her early Atlantic records gave one the impression that her
true home was earthy soul music. If for some reason she returned to
straight soul shouting in the future, it's doubtful that the phase
would last for more than an album or two. In the meantime, despite her
lukewarm recent sales record, she's an institution, assured of the
ability to draw live audiences and immense respect for the rest of her
lifetime, regardless of whether there are any more triumphs on record
in store. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Written by Richie Unterberger