We show sort of excepts of a birthday party. A musical moment from Respect, with, from left, Henry Riggs, Jennifer Hudson, Hailey Kilgore, Saycon Sengbloh, Alec Barnes, John Giorgio, Marc Maron and Joe Knezevich. Respect shows young Franklin meeting Martin Luther King, and later performing at his funeral. Franklin is pockmarked by pain to the point of a descent into alcoholism, and viewers begin to see how events in her personal life and her negotiations with the men around her informed her music. The singer Dinah Washington was not only a huge influence on Franklinwho, in 1964, recorded an album of her songs as a tributebut also a family friend. The upside of Respect is that it truly focuses on the intricacies of her music-making. When I saw her in the dressing room getting her makeup done, I actually saw Aretha and Im sure [Aretha] would be happy.. However, screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson did make room for an incident from Etta Jamess life in her telling of the Aretha Franklin story. She gets some tough love from mentor/rival Dinah Washington (Mary J. Blige) before being booted from her Columbia contract and heading down to Muscle Shoals with Atlantic Records legend Jerry Wexler, played with great warmth and humor by comedian Marc Maron. Franklin, who died Thursday at 76, solidified her unchallenged reign as the Queen of Soul elsewhere, on grander stages, typically with grittier musical backing. Aretha deeply resented the remarks and thought Dinah was acting like a diva, Ritz wrote. Family is an essential part of Franklins story and that includes her grandmother Rachel, who was among the relatives who helped raise Aretha and her sisters. At one of her father's house parties Aretha meets the Queen of Blues, Dinah Washington. Dinah appears as a friend of Aretha's family, who meets Aretha as a child singer before witnessing her grow to become a popular artist in her own right. RESPECT Official Teaser Trailer (Universal Pictures) HD. You want to take me on? says Washington as she pours herself a whisky before asking Franklin how many albums shes had. Franklin took offense at Respect, which she pronounced "a trashy book." Find out what it means to me: Aretha Franklins lifelong fight for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. The Grammy and Tony Award winning Erivowhos also a Golden Globe and Oscar nomineestars as Franklin and puts to great use not only her acting chops but also her powerful voice. ". After shed had nine gospel albums and no big hits, Hammond was at a loss as to what to offer her. Thats something thats now also talked about, how big she was overseas. In 2005 Franklin received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the USs highest civil honour. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. ", Earlier this week I spoke with Aaron Cohen, a fellow jazz critic who also wrote a perceptive book about Amazing Grace. Read More. This is perhaps why both Respect and Genius: Aretha felt compelled to include Pollacks shoot in their narratives. Her jazz influences were close at hand, as a pianist as well as a vocalist. In Respect, however, Washington loses her cool at a live show of Franklins after she started singing her signature song, Unforgettable. She flips a table and tells her not to sing any of her songs, then goes backstage to apologize. "As a jazz pianist myself, I recognized her jazz chops," Allen told Ritz. The true story behind the Respect movie confirms that Aretha Franklin's parents, Barbara and C. L. Franklin, separated in 1948, mainly due to C. L.'s perpetual infidelities, in addition to C. L. fathering a daughter to a 12-year-old girl. That performance was three years before her death. The movie is strongest in this midsection, allowing Hudson to perform several numbers from Franklins remarkable run of late 60s hits nearly in their entirety. Who was Dinah Washington? "This Bitter Earth" is a 1960 song made famous by rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington and written and produced by Clyde Otis. The duo met in New York in 2007, shortly after Hudson had won an Oscar for her role as Effie White in Dreamgirls. Photograph: Quantrell D Colbert. Two years ago I saw her perform at the White House, as part of the festivities around International Jazz Day. Here, hes portrayed by Richardson, who fans will recognize from True Blood, The Newsroom, and Dear White People. Franklin's connection to Washington dated back to her childhood, and she even paid tribute to the blues icon with the tribute album Unforgettable in 1964. As Ann Powers put it in her eloquent tribute: "The beginning of Franklin's journey toward stardom, under the tutelage of John Hammond at Columbia Records, offers another set of lessons, this time in adaptability, elegance and craft.". The result is a movie that skews too closely to Franklins own self-image, a narrative that she tightly controlled during her lifetime as a matter of privacy and as a way to assert her own power in an industry, and country, dominated by sexist and racist stereotypes about Black womens sexuality and intelligence. "Aretha deeply resented the remarks and thought Dinah was acting like a diva," Ritz wrote. What the Cast of Genius: Aretha Looks Like In Real Life, National Geographic, Richard DuCree; Getty, one of the most celebrated singers in the world. She studied Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Anita O'Day, June Christy, Dakota Staton anyone I had on the box. Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist, who has been described as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". You gotta compare it to Ella or Billie or Sarah to understand its greatness. He mentored King. It was no accident that her first album for the label, released in '61, was Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo Bryant being an exceptional jazz pianist from Philadelphia, and the son of an ordained minister. (I saw Franklin perform this tune a decade ago at Radio City Music Hall, along with "My Funny Valentine" and Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade."). Given how electrifying those moments were, I found myself wanting more and more music, a feat achieved by Hudsons own riveting take on Franklins classics as well as my memory of hearing Franklins powerhouse voice for the first time. Years later when she becomes a popular singer, she attempts to sing a Dinah song in tribute after spotting her in the crowd. In 2021, Washington was brought to life on screen by Mary J. Blige in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Dinah Washington Performs in 1952. It's not known whether this incident actually happened or not. There was a lot more stuff that we showed in her childhood initially, but we just had to cut. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Here, get to know the characters and the actors who portray them. Right after Amazing Grace, the epochal double album often hailed as her consummate masterpiece, she enlisted producer Quincy Jones for Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky), a fascinating mixed bag of an album that includes an uptempo romp through "Moody's Mood for Love," the Eddie Jefferson vocalese of a James Moody ballad. Since her youth Franklin had admired Dinah Washington, and it's a safe bet that the level of emotional commitment Washington brought to her work was a major influence on the blossoming style of Aretha, not to mention Washington's effortless sense of swing. Released on February 18, 1964, by Columbia Records, the album is a tribute dedicated to the recently deceased singer Dinah Washington. Over a stretch of just 17 years, Dinah Washington recorded 447 songs. Starring Academy-Award Nominee Cynthia Erivo as Aretha Franklin.About National Geographic:National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. In 2021, the Academy Award winner played legendary singer Dinah Washington in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Instead, Respect treats trauma as a string of unresolved secrets, the source of which neither the film nor Franklin herself ever felt compelled to share with her audience. Sean Burns Twitter Film CriticSean Burns is a film critic for The ARTery. Franklin (Forest Whitaker) and her abusive first husband and manager Ted White, strikingly well-played by Marlon Wayans. "Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington", Learn how and when to remove this template message, The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, Respect: The Very Best of Aretha Franklin, The Queen in Waiting: The Columbia Years (19601965), Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul, Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen, The Atlantic Singles Collection 19671970, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone, Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be, A Rockin' Good Way (to Mess Around and Fall in Love), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Unforgettable:_A_Tribute_to_Dinah_Washington&oldid=1032732446, Articles lacking sources from October 2015, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning" (, "Don't Say You're Sorry Again" (Lee Pearl, Art Berman, Eugene West) - 2:45, Original recordings produced by Robert Mersey, Legacy's Rhythm & Soul Series Director: Adam Block, Remixed and digitally mastered by Vic Anesini, Sony Music Studios, New York, Interior Photos: Sony Music Photo Library, This page was last edited on 9 July 2021, at 09:23. That makes it a 'must-have' and a record that is once again 'current.' Finally, with some rebellious advice from Dinah and support by Ted White, Aretha fled her father's command. Featuring "What a Diff'rence a Day Made . We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. And in that freedom, it was able to share itself as one of Franklins best kept secrets. ), It's no slight at all to Franklin's incandescent work on Atlantic in the late '60s and early '70s one of the all-time hot streaks in recorded music history to recognize the glorious work she did earlier in her career. Aretha Franklin was about a month shy of her 20th birthday when she appeared for a week at The Village Gate in late February of 1962. Franklin was wearing an embellished gold gown, a fabulous, inordinate fur coat and large diamond earrings. I assume part of the reason theyre so popular is because you always know pretty much exactly what youre going to get, and seeing some favorite tunes performed on a big screen with a rump-shaking surround sound system is one of the few things that can still draw people out to the movies.
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