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PrintableDisrespect! Aretha Franklin slams ‘trashy’ book The Queen of Soul says don’t waste your money — or soul — on the recently released unauthorized biography about her. In a statement, Aretha Franklin called David Ritz’s “Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin” a “trashy book.” The two have a history of collaborating: Franklin and award winner Ritz worked together on her 1999 biography, “Aretha: From These Roots.” He also won a Grammy Award for best album notes for his work on Franklin’s 1992 box set, “Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings.” “As many of you are aware, there is a very trashy book out there full of lies and more lies about me … [The writer’s] actions are obviously vindictive because I edited out some crazy statements he had the gall to try and put in my book written 15 years ago,” the statement read. “Evidently, he has been carrying this hatred ever since.” In “Respect,” Ritz writes about Franklin as a teenage parent, her own parents’ separation, her battle with alcohol and more. “The sensitive questions — Aretha’s mother leaving the family, Aretha having two babies while still in her teens, Aretha being beaten by her first husband … were off-limits,” Ritz writes in his new book about working with Franklin for their 1999 effort. “In my view, my two years of working on ‘From These Roots’ resulted in my failure to actualize the great potential in Aretha’s narration. I didn’t do what I set out to do.” Ritz has written a number of biographies, ranging from Etta James to Rick James to Ray Charles. He has won the Ralph Gleason Music Book Award four times, and last year he received the ASCAP Timothy White Award for outstanding musical biography for the Buddy Guy book, “When I Left Home.” He has also authored many novels, essays and articles. “I think the book in the deepest way is an appreciation. And when I say appreciation, it’s just not an appreciation of her art; it’s an appreciation of the challenges of her life and the appreciation how hard it is to kind of navigate your way through the complexities of show business culture,” Ritz told the Associated Press by phone Monday. He writes that Franklin brought up the idea of collaborating on a follow-up to “From These Roots,” but their ideas for the project were different. “When I renewed my research for this book, I did so without Aretha’s blessing, but I did have the support of three of Aretha’s closest relatives,” Ritz writes. Franklin’s latest album, “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics,” was released a week before Ritz’s book last month. The album debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. “I call the book ‘Respect’ because I think it’s a respectful book,” Ritz told AP. “I tried to be understanding and compassionate and that was my goal. … I love her and I love her art, and I tried to honor her story.” | |
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I always wondered what happen in her last relationship. To which she called off the wedding at the last minute. She never talked about him again...  will ALWAYS think of  like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P. | |
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so..did anyone buy/read the book yet? Any other shocking stuff in it? | |
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I checked this out from the library. It's around 500 pages long, but I've gotten to 82 so far which is getting into Aretha first getting signed to Columbia. It's not really as gossipy as the OP blurb makes it sound, not really any different than the average bio. Whoever wrote that is probably trying to get attention to their website by picking out the "dirt". Everything so far is from interviews by people who are named, like Aretha's siblings, cousins, and other performers like Billy Preston, James Cleveland, Johnnie Taylor, Phil Moore, & others. There's no unnamed "sources" here. If Ritz made it up, then naming people would not be a good idea. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Paul McCartney wrote Let It Be for Aretha, but she was taking too long, so The Beatles released their version instead. Aretha was concerned about the "Mother Mary" line, she thought it had something to do with the Catholic Church and she was Baptist. The line was actually about Paul's mother, who was named Mary. Aretha also turned down several songs thinking they wouldn't be hits, but they wound up being hits for others like Dusty Springfield, several songs from Natalie Cole's debut, Upside Down & I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross, and some other songs. Curtis Mayfield originally presented the songs from the Sparkle soundtrack to Aretha's sister Carolyn to record, but Aretha later heard the demos and decided to record them herself, which did not sit well with Carolyn and they had big arguements about it. Carolyn thought it could finally be her chance to get a hit record and was upset about the situation a long while after the soundtrack came out. . Her brother Cecil was her manager, and he says Aretha was upset about Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan, and wanted to sue the writers. She said the song was slander because the girl in the song didn't remember who she was. Cecil (who liked the song and Steely Dan) calmed her down and told her no lawyer would take her case. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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serious?? She was gonna sue them over that?! lolThink I'm gonna read this one. "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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Aretha is wonderful,but sometimes she seems very insecure about herself,and how she is viewed by others.Remember the ruckus she raised when Beyonce,at some award show,referred to Tina Turner as the "queen"? | |
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Someone should reassure Aretha that her legacy is securely set in stone.She is and will always be,the undisputed Queen of Soul.
Several of the people in the book says this about Aretha including her siblings & gospel singer Clara Ward. Right now I'm at her 1st starting to work with Luther for Jump To It. Earlier in the book it says she didn't like Atlantic signing Roberta Flack and promoting her and felt Roberta was competition. People around Aretha told her that Roberta was not the same kind of artist, but it didn't change her mind about it. . It said a lot of the songs Aretha did at Columbia were her idea as she didn't really want to be an R&B/soul act but a Judy Garland type singer and that both Aretha & her father Rev. C.L. were big fans of Al Jolson. John Hammond, the president of Columbia at the time and one of her producers wanted her to do all jazz records and didn't think recording showtunes was what Aretha should have been doing with her career. Even after Aretha became the Queen Of Soul (a title she took seriously unlike Elvis who did not like being called "The King") at Atlantic, she often did showtunes at her concerts like It's No Business Like Show Buisness and Swanee, which the audiences were usually not expecting. . The songs Day Dreaming and All The King's Horses were about Dennis Edwards. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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I'm thru the first 4 chapters and I have to admit it's a damm good book! "It's not nice to fuck with K.B.! All you haters will see!" - Kitbradley
"The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." - Socrates | |
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Finished it earlier today. It ends in 2013. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Reading now and in the late 80's There's no slander in this book whatsoever I will say that reading this book will let the reader know what goes on behind the royal curtain. I was one of those that believed the life she portrayed in Jet and Ebony Ritz breaks that down What I am taking home is that she's very insecure (still is) and You will understand why after reading the book. He put things in perspective in a very respectful manner Great book!! minor keys and drugs don't make a rollerskate jam | |
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