One of the many amazing gifts of Aretha Franklin was her ability to transform a familiar song that had previously been a popular hit and make it completely fresh and new. Early in her career, she covered plenty of classic standards and certainly put her stamp on them. But it wasn't until Franklin gained more creative control of her records that she was able to take her version of a well-known song in exciting and unexpected directions. The Queen of Soul's first breakout hit was in 1967 with a re-imaging of Otis Redding's top-five r&b hit, "Respect". While his take was about a hard-working man coming home to his family and finally getting the attention he feels he deserves, she made it about a woman who demanded to receive R-E-S-P-E-C-T from her man. Aretha's version not only became a powerful feminist anthem but used as inspiration during the civil rights movement.
Here are just a few examples of what Aretha could do with somebody else's song:
As the music video has lost most of its luster and relevance, the MTV Video Music Awards have generally done pretty much the same. At one time, the show was the place to go for water-cooler moments (do people still actually chat by water dispensers?) and incredible live performances by the hottest artists of the day. Now, it seems to struggle to get popular musicians to attend and the ones that do hardly create memorable musical moments. And while MTV claimed to have something “special” planned to honor Aretha Franklin during this year’s show, the best they came up with was to have Madonna go onstage and tell this long-winded story (which ended up having very little to do with the Queen of Soul. And I won’t even get in to what the singer was wearing) before presenting the Video of the Year Award, then it’s quite clear that the VMA’s glory days are long gone.
Vulture has decided to look back at all of the previous thirty-four winners of MTV’s Video of The Year Award and ranked them from worst to best. Looking over this list, I’m kinda shocked by some of these actual winners of this prize. Many of these videos were barely impressive when they won and have hardly stood up to the test of time (yes, I’m taking about you “Money For Nothing”).
Anyway, Click below for the entire list but I have included my personal favorites here:
It is no exaggeration to say that the entire world is grieving over the loss of one of popular music’s greatest singers, Aretha Franklin, dubbed "the Queen of Soul" relativity early in her career, who passed away on August 16th at the age of seventy-six. It was apparent that she had not been well over the last few years but had
declined to reveal any possible illness. It has since been stated that Franklin had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and had passed away from complications.
While the church was a very important part of her life as she was the daughter of Detroit minister C. L. Franklin and her first professional recordings were gospel music when she was a teenager, Franklin had interest in many genres of music. People were always aware of her magnificent gift as a vocalist and knew she was destined for greatness. Franklin first signed with Columbia Records in 1960 (which her father and manager at the time approved after turning down Berry Gordy and his Motown label as he felt it was not established long enough) and they tried to mold her like other popular singers of the day. And while she found some success at the label, it always seemed like she was unable to reach her full potential.
That would all change six years later when Franklin decided to leave Columbia and move to Atlantic Records which would allow her more creative control. Franklin was finally able to sing how she felt and record the songs how she wanted. And the public responded to her music in a major way. Franklin was an immediate success and would go throughout her amazing career to amass seventeen top-ten pop singles, twenty number-one r&b singles, eighteen Grammy Awards (including the first eight awards given in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance from 1968 to 1975), the first female inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, a Kennedy Center honoree in 1994, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, sold seventy-five million records worldwide and was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the Number One Greatest Singer of All-Time.
Not only was Franklin a tremendously talented vocalist but was actively involved in the civil rights movement where she toured with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and would sing at his 1968 funeral. Franklin also sang at the U.S. Presidential inaugurations for Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Aretha was one of my all-time favorite singers. She could, and did, sing all kinds of music while making them clearly her own with her glorious voice filled with passion and fire. Aretha Franklin was truly an influential, one-of-a-kind artist who changed popular music forever. And in honor of this gifted performer, here are a few of my favorite musical moments by Ms Franklin:
It's hard to believe it but today the legendary pop superstar, Madonna has turned sixty. I am old enough to remember when she first came on the scene with the single, "Everybody" back in 1982 and many people thought she was a black singer. I danced in the clubs to her next single, "Burning Up" which came out the following year and it's still one of my favorites from the singer. Then her self-titled album finally came out in 1983 and I was completely hooked. It was a perfect blend of dance, pop and a little bit of soul. From that moment on, I became a life-long fan.
Provocative, controversial and boldly sexual, Madonna was unlike any female pop singer that came before her. From the very beginning of her career, she challenged conventional views of femininity and sexuality while forcing people to confront their fears and biases on these once taboo subjects. And her timing was perfect as she came of age during the rise of MTV and the music video. Madonna cleverly used this format to visually express divergent ideas, create many memorable personas and enhance her dance-pop songs.
No matter your opinion of this singer, there is no denying her wide-ranging influence and impact on our culture and pop music.
Ultimately, Madonna has not only become one of the most successful female singers in history with over three hundred million records sold worldwide but she is considered fourth as one of the best-selling musical acts of all time.
And to celebrate this major milestone in her life, Madonna has started a month-long fundraiser to help orphans and children in Malawi. If you would like to donate, you can go directly to her Facebook page to give with the proceeds going to Madonna's Raising Malawi foundation.
Minnie Riperton had an unusual voice for pop music. With her four-octave coloratura soprano, this singer brought colorful sounds that you didn't ordinarily hear in pop or r&b songs. This was most notable in the biggest hit of her career, "Loving You" where you hear her hit notes so high that you didn't think were humanly possible. While she is no longer with us, Riperton has been remembered as one of the great vocal stylists.
Born in Chicago, Riperton was the youngest of eight children and she embraced the arts at an early age. She began with ballet and modern dance before being encouraged to explore her musical abilities. Riperton trained with a voice coach and with her impressive vocal gift seemed poised for a career in opera. However, she was more interested in singing soul and rock.
Riperton’s first professional opportunity began when she became part of a girl group, The Gems in Chicago. While their attempts at having a big hit record never materialized, The Gems did find some success as session singers with their notable role was providing background vocals on Fontella Bass’ hit, "Rescue Me" in 1965. During this time, Riperton met producer, Billy Davis and he helped guide and produced singles with her that found minor local success. Riperton later joined a rock-soul outfit called Rotary Connection in 1966, recording several albums and touring with them until 1969. She recorded her first solo album with her husband, Richard Rudolph, a writer and producer in 1970 but "Come To My Garden" failed to receive much attention.
Soon Riperton was a mother of two and spending more time with her family than on her career. But a few demos found their way to Epic Records and they soon had her recording her next album. "Perfect Angel" was released in 1974 and brought the singer some new found fame. With fan, Stevie Wonder on board to play, write and produce a few tracks (but secretly at the time due to the concern that his label, Motown might not allow his participation), the album became an international success with the help of the last single, "Loving You". This beautiful ballad reached the top of the U.S. pop chart in 1975.
However, not long after reaching this highlight of her career, the singer received some tragic news. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a radical mastectomy in 1976. After bravely going public with her illness, Riperton continued recording and touring and became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. She released her fifth studio album, "Minnie" in May 1979 but sadly, Riperton lost her battle with cancer and passed away two months later on July 12th at the age of thirty-one. She is survived by Rudolph and their children, Marc and Maya, who many know as an actress and comedian as a former cast member on "Saturday Night Live".
The spirit of Minnie Riperton is still very much alive with her wonderful music to enjoy and to remember her gifts as an artist. Here are two of favorite songs from this glorious songbird:
She had been teasing us since last week but Robyn, the cherished Euro-pop singer, has finally reemerged with new music after eight long years. "Missing U" is well worth the wait and features everything you expect from the Swedish vocalist; melancholy lyrics surrounded by a driving beat. There are no unexpected sounds or big-name guest performers here and that's perfectly fine.
Robyn has stated there is an album on the horizon and hopefully this year we will hear it but no clear word on a release date. So we have to settle for this one glorious track in the meantime. Check out the lyric video:
