Aretha Franklin to Release CD on Her Own Label in 2007

Aretha Franklin will release a CD on her own label in 2007. The Detroit-based artist recently performed at the Music Hall downtown.
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ARETHA FRANKLIN: Doing Her Own Thing

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is doing her own thing -- literally.

The multiple Grammy Award winning diva is reprortedly co-producing her new album, titled 'Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love,' and will release it independently via her Aretha Records label sometime during the top of 2007

According to music industry trade magazine 'Billboard,' the opus will feature collaborations with gospel greats Shirley Caesar, Karen Clark-Sheard and the rest of the legendary Clark Sisters, multi-platinum Nashville singer Faith Hill, and sought after hit makers Gordon Chambers and Troy Taylor.

Veteran producer Michael Powell (Anita Baker, Patti LaBelle, Aaliyah), who also worked on Franklin's last two albums, also produced 'Aretha…'

Franklin is riding a wave, these days.

"Never Gonna Break My Faith," her gospel-tinged duet with Mary J. Blige (featured on the soundtrack to the movie 'Bobby') was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

She will also be feted at the United Negro College Fund's "An Evening of Stars," which will premiere on Jan. 27 on BET.

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Franklin puts soul in show: Audience treated to holiday spirit

BY KELLEY L. CARTER
FREE PRESS MUSIC CRITIC
December 22, 2006

Aretha Franklin stood center stage, dressed in red and black, with a double strand of pearls draped around her neck, and asked the crowd one poignant question: "Are you," she said softly into the microphone, "ready to rock?"

The answer? A resounding "Yes!" Franklin -- that's the Queen of Soul to us common folk -- opened her show by sprinkling her gospel-tinged vocals over a few Christmas classics, putting everyone in Detroit's Music Hall front row and center for one of the best Christmas programs not happening on Sunday.

She sang familiar Christmas fare, including "O Holy Night," and "O Come All Ye Faithful," in front of the young adult choir of New Bethel Baptist Church, where she cut her vocal chops before establishing herself as one of the world's most recognizable and highly celebrated voices.

Then she dismissed her background singers and rolled into a series of the songs that put her on a first-name basis in households all over the world. She sang some tunes from the popular film, "Sparkle."

The Curtis Mayfield-penned songs, including the classic "Something He Can Feel," set a high-spirited tone.

Franklin sang a medley of classics, including "Respect," and also treated the crowd to a few singles from her forthcoming album, "A Woman Falling Out of Love," due early next year.