Ordering my copy NOW!

Aretha Franklin may be the Queen of Soul, but a new unauthorized biography reveals some less than royal things about her and her rise to fame.

In the book, titled “Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,” noted biographer David Ritz details Franklin’s journey from child prodigy to legendary entertainer as well as times when she was reportedly abused, battled depression and addiction and never felt like she was pretty enough.

An excerpt from the book, obtained by The Daily Mail, cites Franklin’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin and what he did as the head pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit as where the singer’s troubles began.“It was the point where Saturday night merged into Sunday morning and sin met salvation at the crossroads of African American musical culture,” Ritz wrote about the church. “High on the Holy Ghost, dancing in the aisles of New Bethel, the saints celebrated the love of Christ. ‘High on wine and weed, the party people celebrated the love of the flesh’.”

Regarding Rev. Franklin, Ritz described him as a serially promiscuous philanderer. So much so that New Bethel was so notorious for its orgies, some all-male, some all-female that it even caught the attention of Ray Charles.“When it came to pure sex, they were wilder than me – and that’s saying something,” Charles said in the book. “In those days I had a thing for orgies, but I had to be the only cat in the room with two or three chicks. The gospel people didn’t think that way. The cats liked it with the cats and the chicks liked it with the chicks and no one minded mixing it up this way or that. I got a kick outta seeing how God’s people were going for it hard and heavy every which way. I was just surprised to see how loose they were.”

Other details outlined in the unauthorized biography include:

– Claims of Franklin regularly fabricating stories about romance and happiness to Ebony and Jet magazines to make sure her fans saw her life the way she “imagined” it to be.

– Franklin’s marriage at age 19 to an infamous Detroit pimp named Ted White who supposedly turned her onto weed and booze as well as allegedly financed her career with money from his “girls.”

– Franklin’s allegedly sexually promiscuity at a young age that had some people blaming her father when she became pregnant at age 12, while others suspected he was the dad. He wasn’t.

– Franklin’s alleged affair with 23-year-old R&B singer Sam Cooke when she was 12-year-old

– Friends and family admitting that Franklin is deeply insecure and never felt pretty enough, skinny enough or that her singing was the best. So much so that she hid her insecurity by belittling others and starting fights.

– Franklin’s ego reportedly preventing her from befriending other women. She was insanely jealous of Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand and couldn’t stand for competitors like Natalie Cole, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack or Whitney Houston to get more attention for singing soul music.

– Franklin allegedly starting fights with Luther Vandross. She would only refer to him as Vandross,
while he was required to call her Miss Franklin.

– Franklin being notorious for cancelling concerts, showing up late, no-shows and skipping out on bills.

– Franklin’s arguable addictions to sex and food…particularly fried chicken.David Ritz’s “Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin” is available now.

http://www.eurweb.com/2014/10/unauthorized-aretha-bio-highlights-alleged-orgies-addiction-and-insecurity/#7uZ271wcCCjwX8Eo.99

[Edited 11/2/14 15:19pm]

wow!

David Ritz past work is pretty solid so id say whatever he is writing is bang on the money, its very surprising that he would write such a book, im wondering if Ms Franklin done him wrong!!

I have David Ritz´s Marvin Gaye biography "Divided Soul", which is a fascinating read, so I doubt he´d spread lies. However, I´m kind of surprised to hear all this about Aretha.

Ritz is also the writer of the song Sexual Healing.

I'm not surprised; it only confirms some of the things a friend of mine from the South, whose family knew the Franklin family way back when, told me.

David Ritz always comes with the truth and the things said in this book... I'm not the least bit surprised. I love Aretha but the things I've heard? Wow! (LOL)

purplethunder3121 said:

I'm not surprised; it only confirms some of the things a friend of mine from the South, whose family knew the Franklin family way back when, told me.

Where is Detriot?

12 & 23?

Graycap23 said:

12 & 23?

Now according to her memoir, it almost happen when she was the opening act for Sam, but daddy Franklin came looking for her.

Me thinks Ms. ReRe was a lil loose [not passing judgement]

[Edited 11/3/14 19:10pm]

HuMpThAnG said:

Graycap23 said:

12 & 23?

Now according to her memoir, it almost happen when she was the opening act for Sam, but daddy Franklin came looking for here.

Me thinks Ms. ReRe was a lil loose [not passing judgement]

What grown ass man is looking at 12 year olds?

The Davis Sisters of Philadelphia traveled with Rev Franklin they heard C L
admit abusing Aretha

The Davis Sisters talked about him screwing around with his Daughter when he got drunk in the book The Gospel Music According To Saint Ralph Michael

http://books.google.ie/bo...mp;f=false

[Edited 11/3/14 11:05am]

kitbradley said:

– Franklin’s ego reportedly preventing her from befriending other women. She was insanely jealous of Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand and couldn’t stand for competitors like Natalie Cole, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack or Whitney Houston to get more attention for singing soul music.

– Franklin allegedly starting fights

I believe it.. this book sounds like its gonna be good.

According to the book, she was legal at the time.

Graycap23 said:

HuMpThAnG said:

Now according to her memoir, it almost happen when she was the opening act for Sam, but daddy Franklin came looking for here.

Me thinks Ms. ReRe was a lil loose [not passing judgement]

What grown ass man is looking at 12 year olds?

was always suspicious about this..

shellyk84 said:

The Davis Sisters of Philadelphia traveled with Rev Franklin they heard C L
admit abusing Aretha

The Davis Sisters talked about him screwing around with his Daughter when he got drunk in the book The Gospel Music According To Saint Ralph Michael

http://books.google.ie/bo...mp;f=false

[Edited 11/3/14 11:05am]

Graycap23 said:

HuMpThAnG said:

Now according to her memoir, it almost happen when she was the opening act for Sam, but daddy Franklin came looking for here.

Me thinks Ms. ReRe was a lil loose [not passing judgement]

What grown ass man is looking at 12 year olds?

My thoughts exactly. Sam Cooke sounds like the R. Kelly of his day.

And lets be real fellow orgers. Are you really that surprise that Queen Aretha have some freak in her? Seriously, I knew she had to be a pretty sexual woman just by looking at her natural bulldogs (READ: big breasts).

kitbradley said:

That must be the book I happened to browse in a little in the bookstore. If she was jealous of Diana Ross, apparently she wasn't too jealous to do a version of It's My Turn after Ross already had a hit with it. There's a mention of her meeting with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards too.

Spreading her legs at 12?? Ewwww!!!! Sounds like a whore or an abused child, or both.

laurarichardson said:

kitbradley said:

Ordering my copy NOW!

http://www.eurweb.com/2014/10/unauthorized-aretha-bio-highlights-alleged-orgies-addiction-and-insecurity/#7uZ271wcCCjwX8Eo.99

[Edited 11/2/14 15:19pm]

It does not matter if is true or not.He wrote a salacious book instead of a book about her music because it is easier to cash in this way. I hope she sues his ass into the middle of next year and that fried chicken comment is just racist.

i agree. the sad thing is though, there isn't a thing aretha can do. sue, and she'll be in court all day trying to disprove something that can't be disproven. one simply can't prove something *didn't* happen, and the accusers in this case don't have to prove that it did. how can she prove that she wasn't sexually active at 12? katz has put the allegation out there, and he gets to point to his "unnamed sources" and protect them. the best she can hope for is that he doesn't sell a lot of books, that her fans don't want to read this junk.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Sam Cooke amd Aretha vs Jackie Wilson and Pattie LaBelle

yeah, but in Sam's and Aretha's case, it wasn't almost rape...

read her memoir.

Good lord she is ... her.

The only good Aretha song is Rock Steady.

Oops.

"My............CUNT!!!!!!!"- Aretha sang that @ President Obama's 1st Inauguration!!!!!!

David Ritz gets the GOODS!!!!!

1sotrue said:

I'm much more interested on reading this biography. Aretha Franklin released her own autobiography about 15 years ago and it was disappointing to say the least. She was not forthright when it came to her personal life and her father's alleged homosexuality and philandering was barely mentioned. I knew she was a teenage mother but there was a stigma attached to unwed mothers in those days she never reveal her personal view on the subject. I'm sorry if you gonna to write a book about your life it should be flaws and all because if you don't do it someone else will

I strongly agree. I hope Prince is reading THAT^!

I never dreamed a book about her life would be interesting. I mean, the daughter of a minister. I figured it would be average and boring as hell. But gay orgies, pimps, and whores. Sounds like my kind of book. And the part where she didn't like her little goodie two shoes neice either, oh honey, she gets major respect from me for that. R-E-S...P-E-C-T.....

vainandy said:

I never dreamed a book about her life would be interesting. I mean, the daughter of a minister. I figured it would be average and boring as hell. But gay orgies, pimps, and whores. Sounds like my kind of book. And the part where she didn't like her little goodie two shoes neice either, oh honey, she gets major respect from me for that. R-E-S...P-E-C-T.....

Now THAT^ is what I called some serious Whitney hating!

I already knew about Dionne Warwick being Whiney's aunt. But I didn't know Aretha was her aunt too. Looks like all of that respect Whitney was giving her mentor was one sided.

TonyVanDam said:

vainandy said:

I never dreamed a book about her life would be interesting. I mean, the daughter of a minister. I figured it would be average and boring as hell. But gay orgies, pimps, and whores. Sounds like my kind of book. And the part where she didn't like her little goodie two shoes neice either, oh honey, she gets major respect from me for that. R-E-S...P-E-C-T.....

Now THAT^ is what I called some serious Whitney hating!

I already knew about Dionne Warwick being Whiney's aunt. But I didn't know Aretha was her aunt too. Looks like all of that respect Whitney was giving her mentor was one sided.

Aretha is not related to Nippy.