![]() The riveting scene is based largely in truth, but Franklin wasn’t on the receiving end of Washington’s outburst. “Bitch, don’t you ever sing the Queen’s songs when the Queen is right in front of you!” she screams at the mortified Franklin. Washington assumes the young singer is trying to show her up and flips her table in fury. When Franklin learns that her old family friend is in the audience at one of her New York City club dates, she decides to honor Washington with a rendition of her signature song, “Unforgettable.” Unfortunately, her attempt at a tribute badly misfires. Franklin’s relationship with Washington dated back to her childhood in Detroit, when “Miss D” was a frequent guest at her father’s house parties. Blige makes a memorable appearance in Respect as vocalist Dinah Washington, whose string of 1950s jazz hits made her one of the most popular black recording artists of the era. Dinah Washington didn’t actually flip a table after Franklin sang one of Washington’s signature songs at a nightclub. Jennifer Hudson performs “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” in Respect while standing at her father’s pulpit - perhaps a subtle nod to this era of her career. These four tracks, plus Franklin’s version of “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” were also included on the 1956 J-V-B compilation record, Spirituals. ![]() J-V-B issued a second single from these live recordings, a double-sided version of “Precious Lord,” in 1959. However, the veracity of the will is debated. The document names Clarence’s father as Edward Jordan Sr., another local boy with whom she shared her second son, Edward, born when Franklin was 15. Circumstances were further muddied when a will, purportedly handwritten by Franklin, surfaced after her death. (She refers to him only as “Romeo.”) Journalist David Ritz, who co-wrote Franklin’s memoir and also penned an unauthorized 2014 biography on the singer, wrote that Clarence’s father was a classmate of Franklin’s named Donald. The singer herself never named her son’s father publicly, but in her 1999 memoir From These Roots, she said he was a boy she met at a local skating rink. For years, rumors circulated that an adult family friend was responsible - an allegation the family has repeatedly denied. Named Clarence, his father has never been known for certain. In reality, Franklin gave birth to her first son when she was 12 years old. Franklin’s traveling ministry as a “sex circus.”) Later, during another party, Franklin is awoken by a grown man who enters her room and offers to be her “boyfriend.” Through a series of flashbacks, it’s implied that Franklin was raped, resulting in a pregnancy. (Ray Charles, no stranger to debauchery, would describe Rev. The scene establishes Franklin’s mature talent but also hints at the adult world in which she came of age. Guests such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum and Sam Cooke drink, smoke, cuss, and generally raise hell as the little girl performs for their amusement. ![]() Franklin, the so-called “Man with the Million-Dollar Voice” whose fiery sermons had made him a Detroit celebrity. Respect opens as 10-year-old Franklin (played by Skye Dakota Turner) is roused from her bed and led downstairs to sing at a house party hosted by her father, Rev. The father of Franklin’s first child remains a mystery. ‘Respect’: Aretha’s Music Carries This Biopic Read on as we separate fact from fiction. Timelines are skewed, characters are condensed, and fibs are told out of, well…respect. ![]() The career highlights are all there … but naturally, there were some moments in the movie that strayed from reality. You’re in the studio as Franklin finds the groove for her breakthrough hit, “I’ll Never Love a Man (The Way That I Love You).” You’re in the front row as she blows the roof off Madison Square Garden with “Respect.” You’re backstage as she prepares to record her landmark live album, Amazing Grace. Thanks to some impressive research and Jennifer Hudson’s captivating performance as the late icon, the film treats viewers to a host of her most transformative moments. With Respect, screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson and director Liesl Tommy did an admirable job condensing 20 years of the Queen of Soul’s tumultuous life into a mere two-and-a-half hours. Lives never conform to a tidy narrative arc - even one as dramatic as Aretha Franklin’s. ![]()
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