The episcopal church where Aretha Franklin gave her final New York performance
There are ways you can go out with a bang, and then there’s Aretha Franklin.
The woman who began her musical life as a gospel singer at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father was the minister, went on to have one of the most storied and acclaimed careers ever witnessed in music history. Any claims to her sonic royalty are correct, but in many ways, they also just don’t do full justice to her. Put simply, she was other-worldly.
But it was the keen sense of spirituality which not only became an endearing trait of Franklin’s, but also created the feeling that whatever she may have been singing about, it was coming from the true pits of her soul. Of course, there were many struggles, strifes, and outright traumas she endured over the years, but her devotion to one cause was really what kept her on the straight and narrow towards her sonic destiny.
So then, decades down the line, when all was said and done, it seemed beautifully poetic that the Queen of Soul would return to her true roots to perform her swan song, commanding an entire audience in the most ethereal setting imaginable. Not only that, but as a true mark of everything she stood for, it was in the mark of helping others.
The 25th anniversary gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation took place at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York on November 7th, 2017. By this stage, Franklin was seriously ill and rarely seen, merely nine months away from her own death. But she wasn’t going to go out without one final bow.
As John’s husband, David Furnish, later recalled, Franklin was “frail”, but her simple justification was “I didn’t want to let you down”.
He added, “The performance she generously gave everyone was overwhelmingly moving. There she was channeling the spirit of GOD in that beautiful church. How fitting that her final performance was in that beautiful church”.
“How fitting that her final way of saying goodbye was by helping others and saving lives.”
David Furnish
Through the litany of stars who peppered the audience that night, it was Sting who summed up Franklin’s impact most profoundly. “It was always emotional for me whenever she sang, but this time, as she sang Nessun Dorma, it was devastatingly moving,” he said in paying tribute to her after her passing. “I’ll never forget the poignancy and power of that moment. Aretha was one of a kind.”
From the child who was discovered by singing in church to the woman who commanded the acclaim of a bona fide global superstar, nothing could ever match the enthrallment of Franklin. But you can’t shake the feeling that her intrinsic leaning toward the spiritual world was one of the most important factors in helping her achieve this.
Her final performance, in the presence of the church and surrounded by stars, couldn’t have been a more fitting goodbye if she had tried. Whether Franklin was aware of this as she pushed through to give one final show is another matter, but her prescience, prestige, and total poise could only ever be considered a true gift from God.
