Happy 73rd Birthday to the One and the ONLY Aretha Franklin!! This photo (by Walter Iooss) was taken

Happy 73rd Birthday to the One and the ONLY Aretha Franklin!! This photo (by Walter Iooss) was taken in the year I was born in the city I was born: Newark, NJ in 1969. I was honored (thrilled!) when the legendary poet Nikki Giovanni granted me permission to share an excerpt of her 1970 poem, ‘Poem for Aretha" in my book and I’d like to share a bit of it for you here in tribute to Ms. Franklin:“she is undoubtedly the one person who put everyone on noticeshe revived johnny ace and remembered lil green aretha sings"I say a little prayer” and dionne doesn’twant to hear it anymorearetha sings “money won’t change you”but james can’t sing “respect” the adventof Aretha pulled ray charles from marlboro countryand back intothe blues made nancy wilsontry one more time forceddionne to make a choice (she opted for the movies)and diana ross had to get an afro wig pushed everyBlack singer into Blackness and negro entertainersinto negroness you couldn’t jivewhen she said "you make me feel” -- source link
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