Aretha Franklin Returns To Detroit
DETROIT (WWJ) - "The Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin will perform at DTE Energy Music Theatre on Thursday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Her stop in Detroit is one of only five shows she's doing this year. Other venues include Chicago, Niagara Falls, Virginia and Toronto.
To mark her 50th anniversary in show business, Franklin will release her 38th studio album, Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, and it will be available exclusively at Walmart stores and Walmart.com beginning May 3.
The 12-track album, which features the single "How Long I've Waited," is Franklin's first release since 2008's This Christmas, Aretha.
Like Madonna and Marvin Gaye, she is one of only three musicians who have placed a single on every charted position of the Billboard Top 10 Pop Singles chart.
Aretha Louise Franklin may have been born in Memphis, Tennessee, but she is now a Motor City legend.
A soul, R&B and gospel singer, songwriter and pianist, and known by many as "Lady Soul," Franklin is renowned as one of the top vocalists due to her ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with passion, soul and sheer conviction.
Franklin began singing in the Detroit church of her father, Rev C.L. Franklin, while growing up in the 1950s. She made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14 and has gone on to have a luminous career with an astounding 37 studio album releases.
In 1979, she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 1987 she was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history. She has won 18 competitive Grammys (including an unprecedented 11 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, which was nicknamed The Aretha Franklin Award, eight of them consecutively), and the state of Michigan has declared her voice a natural resource.
Franklin has had two number one hit songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, "Respect" in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," while many of her singles have hit the Top 20, Top 10 and Top five positions.
Franklin is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the USA's highest honor) in 2005, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Grammy Living Legend Award.
This year's Grammy Awards featured a tribute to Franklin, as singers Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Florence Welch performed a rousing medley of her hit songs to open the show.
She also performed at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.
Tickets cost $75 and $55 for pavilion seating and $15 for lawn admission. Special lawn ticket four-packs at $44 are also available.
Tickets go on sale Monday, May 2 at 10 a.m. at Palacenet.com, The Palace Box Office, Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
