January 18, 2006


Before they crown the king of football, we'll get to hear the Queen of Soul.

Aretha Franklin, backed by a 150-person Detroit choir, will join singer Aaron Neville and pianist Dr. John at Detroit's Super Bowl to perform the national anthem, the Free Press has learned.

An NFL spokesman confirmed late Tuesday that the Detroit legend is on board, though the league had hoped to keep her participation secret until game week.

The Ford Field pregame music picture is now complete: Before Franklin and company perform "The Star Spangled Banner," Motown star Stevie Wonder will play a set of his hits with young stars John Legend and Joss Stone.

Like the other pregame artists, Franklin and her backing choir will sing to a taped vocal track, to be recorded in Detroit several days before the Feb. 5 game.

For sports fans, that may evoke memories of June 2004: Franklin, widely regarded as one of popular music's most gifted vocalists, lip-synched the anthem before a Detroit Pistons playoff game. The initial denials and eventual confirmation of the lip-synching became a colorful sideshow during the team's NBA championship run.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said the combo of Franklin, Neville and Dr. John makes for a top-shelf pairing of Detroit and New Orleans.

By Brian McCollum

http://www.freep.com/apps...1/1035/ENT

Moonbeam said:

Can you tell the difference?

Moonbeam said:

It's fitting with the Superbowl being in Detroit.....maybe folks complained about it before they decided to add them. I think I'm more excited about Aaron Neville and Dr. John.

AnckSuNamun said:

there has been tons of complaining around the detroit area. people dont want non detroit artists playing at the superbowl. peeps were pissed when the stones were announced, so they added stevie and aretha. there should be some more surprises though. at least thats what theyre saying.

i really wanted madonna to do halftime. she has a new album and shes from here. i thought that woulda been cool, but nooooo. they had to get the stones.

dreamfactory313 said:

Madonna seems to have lost her sense of promtion. The Super Bowl is probably her best opportunity to plug her album. Shes' from Detroit, she has a new single coming up, her album is free falling down the charts. This is the "it" opportunity for her but she doesn't seem to care.

i think she's already had enough in her bowl. they need to take it away from her.

DynamicSavior said:

oh god, I don't know what's worse, this....or the Mrs. potato Head thing.

as long as she doesn't cause a solar eclipse by flashing a boob her performance should be okay.

k7i2m3 said:

people..stop it..im sick..i cant laugh this hard..

AnckSuNamun said:

I'm surprised I said that before anyone else did.

LMAO @ the title of this thread...

...."put some mo' SOUL n' the BOWL."

by the way.that Mrs. potato head pic is just wrong.

she really needs to lose some weight.

dreamfactory313 said:

She needs to be backed by that many people!

theVelvetRoper said:

DAMN!!

y'all need to stop with the ReeRee jokes

the fat jokes on here are so not nice...you never know, she might surprise us and have lost weight by that time....

missfee said:

Lets keep our fingers crossed. The big weigh-in is in 4 days!

lol,you guys are mean