#RIP QUEEN OF SOUL ARETHA FRANKLIN [MARCH 25, 1942 – AUGUST 16, 2018]

“They just don’t make’em like her anymore,” says Cheatham.

Long live the Queen. Aretha Franklin was definitely one of a kind. Her voice was angelic, her charisma was undeniable and her talent was unrivaled. You know you’re that woman when you take other people’s best song and make it your own best song – Otis Redding’s “Respect,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bring Over Troubled Water.” I’ll never forget the time I discovered her, “Live at Fillmore West” album. I sat with that album for years and still to this day can’t comprehend its full genius. I was a young kid, listening to records in my parent’s house, and discovered a vinyl of Aretha singing “Let it be.” I must have heard that song 1,000 times that afternoon. They simply don’t make’em like her anymore.

There is a generational change happening and every day our legends are leaving us. Aretha’s generation performed through a time that I could not have imagined –  segregation, Jim Crow, you name it. And through it all, she remained the consummate diva – in the real sense of the word, with no negative sentiment. For Aretha, diva meant Queen. And she was just that – the Queen of Soul. Long live the Queen. #WESEEIT