Aretha Franklin To Be Honored At BET's "Walk Of Fame" Celebration

delph998 · #1 10-16-2003, 12:57 PM

Aretha Franklin To Be Honored At BET's "Walk Of Fame" Celebration
By Chuck 'Jigsaw' Creekmur, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted September 12, 2003-- Black Entertainment Television will honor the legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin at this year's Walk Of Fame celebration, which will take place next month in Washington D.C.

Franklin has been an enduring icon of music for decades and BET has decided to honor her as we have singers like James Brown, Michael Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and others.

A special host will be Donnie Simpson, renowned radio personality and former host of BET's hit show "Video Soul."

The ceremony will take place on Oct. 18 and will be aired on Oct. 28. Expect a slew of entertainers to be announced to celebrate the career of this soul diva. A formal press conference will take place on on Oct. 16 at the Hyatt Hotel in Washington D.C.to announce the intimate details.

Aretha Franklin's superstar origins in music are rooted in her gospel background and rearing in Memphis, Tennessee. From 1956 to 1960, her albums were fully rooted in gospel. However from the 60's through the 70's, after waded through a few labels, Aretha collected a series of mammoth hits including "Respect," "Baby I Love You," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone."

But like most artists, her popularity didn't wane - it grew through the 70s and 80s. During the early 70's she achieved success with "Angel," "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" and "I'm In Love." She even made a cameo appearance in the cult classic film "The Blues Brothers."

The 80s yielded even more acclaim as she shifted to Arista Records, releasing a pair of albums and working with Luther Vandross on "Jump To It" and "Get It Right." She recorded an international smash with singer George Michael in "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," which hit number 1 in the U.S. and the U.K.

Thirty years after her career began, her career came full circle when she recorded "A Rose Is Still a Rose," which was written, produced and arranged by Lauryn Hill. For the consummate diva, the song was just another example of her great, classic and soulful sound.

Aretha Franklin is the ninth star to be honored by BET's Walk Of Fame. Last year's honoree was Steve Wonder and, in 2001, Patti LaBelle.

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You gotta really be able to sing to get on that stage and "do Aretha"! I can't wait!

brickhouse492 · #2 10-16-2003, 01:36 PM

Her voice is very distinguished and strong. I'm glad she is being recognized for her talent. She must have sang in the choir of her dad's church. All I know is she made nothing but hits.

Nuff "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." As a little girl, I loved that song *singing* Jump,

Jump

Jump

toooo it. I remember being a little girl jumping all around the house to that song.

NOWorNEVER · #3 10-16-2003, 01:43 PM

She should have been recognized years ago! I hope they honor the Queen correctly and don't half ass put the show together like they did for Stevie last year.

brickhouse492 · #4 10-16-2003, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NOWorNEVER
She should have been recognized years ago! I hope they honor the Queen correctly and don't half ass put the show together like they did for Stevie last year.

I totally agree. Oh how I wish I had CABLE

!

btb87 · #5 10-16-2003, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by delph998
A special host will be Donnie Simpson, renowned radio personality and former host of BET's hit show "Video Soul."

Congratulations to the Lady of Soul! It IS about time.

But I'll watch it just to see fine ol' Donnie with them pretty eyes!

My Lawd, my Lawd. . .

delph998 · #6 10-16-2003, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by btb87

But I'll watch it just to see fine ol' Donnie with them pretty eyes!

My Lawd, my Lawd. . .

AMEN SISTA!

Yes, it is time for Aretha to be recognized! I love her voice so much.

TonyB06 · #7 10-16-2003, 04:33 PM

I got nothing but love for A. Franklin, but we all know the first thing we gon' check is her outfit!

The Queen has ruled for so long. Somebody tell her we don't want her to catch her death from "over-exposure" if you know what I mean.

AKA2D '91 · #8 10-17-2003, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TonyB06
I got nothing but love for A. Franklin, but we all know the first thing we gon' check is her outfit!

AMEN!

You beat me to the punch.

delph998 · #9 10-28-2003, 03:31 PM

Tonight is the night...are y'all gonna watch it?

AKA2D '91 · #10 10-28-2003, 03:38 PM

I'm going to have to catch the repeat. I have a meeting tonight. It should be a great show. I hope someone like Mary sings "Ain't No Way"!

Eclipse · #11 10-28-2003, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TonyB06
I got nothing but love for A. Franklin, but we all know the first thing we gon' check is her outfit!

The Queen has ruled for so long. Somebody tell her we don't want her to catch her death from "over-exposure" if you know what I mean.

I saw Lady Ree in concert this summer and she was off the hook!! The venue was this open air ampitheater (sp?) that host summer picnics/concerts with well known artists backed by the Atlanta Symphony. The only complain I had was that the concert was too short. I wanted to hear more! The dress she wore gave her a little "exposure", but not too, too much. Luther Vandross actually designed the dress for her.

The greatest moment was when she sang a short riff of a gospel song after a moment of silence for Luther. After she sang she jsut kept chanting Jesus...Jesus...Jesus... Hubby and I were dying at all of the other folks there who had these perplexed looks on their faces wondering what the heck she was doing.

kiml122 · #12 10-29-2003, 09:20 AM

Ok, I had it on, but I was on the phone for most of the show except for the last 20 minutes, so I have no idea if anyone was any good. I have a question, I thought that Ree Ree was working out with Donna Richardson to loose some weight, she still looked really hefty to me, and when she pulled off that hair piece, I was to through.

AKA2D '91 · #13 10-29-2003, 09:26 AM

I only saw the finale.

Donnie Simpson has NOT aged.

As long as he has been on radio, why isn't he syndicated?

Teena Marie: That coat.

RE-RE: LAWD! Whoah!

New Stylist...puhleeze!
Gerald: Stop taking over everyone's show.
Eddie: where ya goin' with them there twists/worms/ WTFE?

What did Alicia Keyes do? Tamia's voice IMO isn't that strong to do a RE-RE song. What song did she do?

kiml122 · #14 10-29-2003, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
Eddie: where ya goin' with them there twists/worms/ WTFE?

I saw the O'Jays this past summer, and the hair is really worse up close and personal. I mean it is really scary.

delph998 · #15 10-29-2003, 10:22 AM

Alicia Keys did well to me.

Norah Jones rocked the house! She was a little shy, but she did a great job to be a little girl. I was impressed.

Mary J. : Stop getting the holy ghost on an R&B song! You lose total control sometimes.

Tamia did well to me.

Jaheim: GET OFF YO' NEEDS FOOL! He sounded sooo funny to me. He needs to lighten his lips. They look so scary to me.

Gerald & Eddie: Y'all didn't do that well!

Seal: Those were some coochie cutters that you had on! And what was up with those silver boots?

Tina Marie: That outfit did NOT work for you.

THE BEST PART OF THE SHOW was the Gospel segment! Yolanda Adams represented! Her gear was tight too!

Why did Aretha look like she was bored the entire show?! Annnnd why did she look like a fat a** fairy goddess???? That hair piece was garbage! She just looked a HOT MESS!

OVERALL...the show was WACK! I was very disappointed in the performers. They should have picked better ones. And stop getting Gerald/Eddie Levert every year. Let's get some other people that can blow. Why couldn't Kelly Price do a tribute? She would have killed one of those songs.

I'm done!