“The joy of the duet”: Aretha Franklin’s favourite collaborations
Aretha Franklin was, in essence, a one-woman choir. The sheer power of her voice could not be matched by any singular artist, no matter how hard musicians attempted to recreate her distinctive tones. It is something of a cliché to define Franklin as the greatest vocalist of all time, but frankly, she is the only singer worthy of that title. Despite her undeniable brilliance, Franklin was never particularly arrogant about her talents, consistently inviting collaborators to work on tracks with her and bask in her vocal excellence.
Beginning her singing career as a teenager, it always seemed clear that Franklin was destined for musical greatness. Even before the golden age of her Atlantic Records period, though, the singer owed a lot to her growing body of influences. During the early days, Franklin found guidance in soul stars like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye, who opened Franklin – who had, up to that point, largely been a gospel singer – up to the incredible world of funk and soul. Of course, we all know the rest: Aretha Franklin went on to dominate the soul scene, garnering the moniker ‘The Queen of Soul’.
Although she quickly rose to the top of the soul scene, Franklin never forgot the influence that stars like Cooke and Gaye gave to her when she was a blossoming star. Hence, the singer was keen to support new and emerging artists through her long and illustrious careers. Often, this support came in the form of collaborations and duets with artists like George Michael, Eurythmics and, in more recent years, John Legend.
In 2007, Franklin released Jewels in the Crown, an album that celebrated her most notable duets and collaborations from across her career. According to the singer, the album was meant to capture “the joy of the duet, just the joy of meeting and getting to work with other artists that I would like to meet, which I don’t often get a chance to do” she said, before elaborating, “Usually when I’m in concert it’s an evening with Aretha, so I don’t get a chance to meet and see a lot of other artists”.
The album blends duets with legendary figures like Keith Richards, Frank Sinatra and Elton John with more contemporary artists like John Legend and even American Idol winner Fantasia. Franklin justified the inclusion of these modern artists by explaining to Forbes, “I just appreciated them as artists and the fact that they appreciated me. And John Legend is, in my opinion, classic. He is one of the best finds that has come along in a long time. He’s very classic in terms of his performance and his writing, certainly as a stylist, and one that I enjoy”.
Franklin hoped that these duets might “bring some of the freshness of what’s happening in music to my album, but more than that, just to put out there what I feel is good and what I wanted people to hear from me”, which they certainly succeeded in doing. However, understandably, these efforts struggled to hold up to the tracks she had made with figures like Sinatra, which she admits was “especially memorable”.
Reflecting upon some of her favourite collaborations, the singer picked out “Gordon Chambers’ ‘Better Than Gold’. It’s a song that equates man with gold, which one is better and why. And ‘Tell Me You Love Me Again’, by Troy Taylor, is a favourite. And of course, the one written by my son is a favourite,” before adding, “And Faith [Hill] is on ‘A Woman Falling out of Love’”.
While it would be ridiculous to suggest that Aretha Franklin needed to rely on other people to boost her own songs, there is something about hearing her collaborate with other artists that really brings attention to the sheer breadth of her talents.
