Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin Announces She’s Retiring This Year At Age 74, After Album Release

US Magazine ^ | 02/09/2017 | Evan Real

[SeekAndFind]

[SkyDancer]

Last time I saw/heard her sing was in the movie Blue Brothers and that was on my granddad’s VHS player.

[laweeks]

Thank God I won’t have to listen to her awful screaming! Never could stand her verbal attacks on the eardrum.

[gaijin]

I never thought I would say it but good riddance

[LonePalm]

She has my R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Thanks Aretha for a fine musical career. You done good.

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[wbill]

Neal Boortz used to call it "Urban Yodeling". Apropos, I think.

Just sing the #@$#@$ song. Don't need to hit every note in your range on every syllable.

The girls who sang America the Beautiful before the Super Bowl did that. I had to change the channel it was so obnoxious.

[ClearCase_guy]

That singing style is indeed annoying. I think Aretha may have started that ball rolling. Whitney Houston made it even more of “a thing” and today Adele, Rhianna, Pink and many others (and EVERYONE on “American Idol”) does it way too much. It’s terribly self-indulgent.

[morphing libertarian]

a few years ago Aretha said she wanted Halle Berry to play her in a biopic. But there is no one for the role other than Jennifer Hudson.

Side note, there is an interview or documentary somewhere, maybe you tube, on Sam Cookie, who was smooth and a ;ladies man, till a woman shot him. Aretha toured with Sam as a long singer and she had relations with him during the tour. Also, in the doc she describes musical beds on ene of their hotel stops.

[lee martell]

Finally! Her actual retirement is at least 15 years overdue.
She said she would retire before, and then got too jealous of Beyonce being called ‘The Queen of Soul’, with Areatha stating that the title would forever belong to her, and nobody else.

I’ve heard a tape of that last Star Spangled Banner she did at a football game earlier this year. I didn’t know it was Areatha till later. At first, I thought I was hearing a slightly drunk elderly black man singing in front of a big mirror in an empty bar someplace in Louisiana. I could tell whoever was singing who knew how to improvise, but the delivery was garbled, uneven and unprofessional. Her performance lasted for quite a few minutes longer than the teams had expected.

[samantha]

She waited too long,her voice is a shadow of its former self.

[oldvirginian]

I was listening a radio show about the old Motown stars.
When they did a bit on Aretha one old timer said that the biggest impediment to Aretha Franklin’s career was....Aretha Franklin. Said she was her own worst enemy.
He gave some examples but I’ve forgotten what they were.

[morphing libertarian]

I have heard she was a real diva, demanding and thought her feces had no odor. I am someone who loves her music and doesn’t like her. She was serious when she said Berry should play her. I wonder what berry thought?

[LonePalm]

That may be true but I am in no position to criticize her or any other performer.

I've been told I have a face for radio and a voice for print. I hate to say it but they are right.

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[T-Bone Texan]

Wasn’t it Aretha who ordered her (black) bodyguards to attack a young (white) man at the DFW airport because he was standing too close to her limo, and then, because it was found out he had a drink on the plane was expelled from West Point, thus destroying his life?

If so, I propose she be ripped to small pieces and fed to an orange alligator.

[Daveinyork]

She was not a Motown star. She was an Atlantic Records star. a technicality.

[BitWielder1]

Several of her old songs are quite good but her habit of over singing at major events takes away from the experience.
Someone should tell these divas that you don't have to scream at the top of your lungs and you don't have to drag out the song an extra 20 minutes.
There is electronic amplification and people want to see the game so please dial it back a few notches and your performance will be much more enjoyable.

[castlegreyskull]

She was good.

Didn’t like her 5 minute long National anthem on Thanksgiving in Detroit lions game.

[mjp]

Thank God I won’t have to listen to her awful screaming! Never could stand her verbal attacks on the eardrum.

I agree

[samantha]

I will bet you did not make money on those traits so it's ok.

[Lizavetta]

I heard it. Over four minutes long, couldn’t understand the words and very self-indulgent. If she would have done it in her old style it would have been good.