‘As a young gay guy in rural Scotland I couldn’t have gotten through the hurt and humiliation without her’: Stuart Thomas, 48, writer, San Francisco
Aretha could sing anything and find meaning in it when she wanted to. Her 1974 song, Without Love, is a testament to getting through, keeping going, knowing that love really is all there is, and that loving who you are is the answer to everything. Aretha meant truth, endurance, looking pain in the eye and saying: ‘You won’t stop me for long’. As a young gay guy coming of age in rural Scotland and later in Glasgow, I couldn’t have gotten through the hurt and humiliation without her robust, throbbing voice, clotted with passion, singing over her own solid piano. Aretha, thank you.
‘“Just get up on stage with us,”’ Aretha said with a smile’: Hasse Huss, 66, anthropologist, Stockholm
I met Aretha in Stockholm in 1968 when I was 16. My friend and I had gone round to her hotel in the hope that she would autograph our Lady Soul albums. “Why don’t you come round and watch the rehearsals tomorrow,” she asked us. When we got to the nightclub the next day we weren’t sure where to park ourselves. “Just get up on the stage with us,” Aretha said with a smile. We spent the better part of the afternoon on stage with Aretha, her sister Carolyn, and her backing singers, Wyline Ivey and Charnissa Jones as they were going through the songs and working out their moves. If I didn’t have the slides I took that day I’d hardly believe it happened. RIP, Lady Soul, thank you for the music. You were second to none.
‘Respect became the mantra when mum went shopping and suffered abuse from white women’: Sandra, London
Aretha’s music was introduced to me by my mother: a strong, Christian woman. My mother often spoke about racism she had to face arriving here in the UK but through her upbringing in the church and her love of music, she always fought the negative with the positive. I remember being introduced to Aretha in the 70s and her voice was like no other. Just like there has never been another Ella, Billie, or Mahalia, Aretha was different. She touched my soul. Respect was the mantra when my father’s demons showed their ugly head. Respect became the mantra when Mum went shopping and suffered abuse from white women. When I fell in love as an adult, I was a “natural woman”. I thank her, salute her and take a bow. She was my queen.
‘Aretha came along and America went cruising, dancing, crying and grooving into possibility’: Greg Lucas, 35, Portland, Oregon
I went through my Aretha phase when I was around 25, snatching up everything she ever recorded. When I heard Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream for 30 seconds or so I took a bus downtown, bought Aretha’s groundbreaking CD I Never Loved a Man The Way I Loved You, returned home, shut my bedroom door and blasted the song over and over again in throws of ecstasy. Beyond her music, we know that Aretha is something more. She came into her creative powers at an extraordinary time and, without her even knowing it, channeled the zeitgeist of the country. Aretha came along and America, black and white, went cruising, dancing, crying and grooving into possibility. Long after Trump’s soundbites have (finally) gone mute, we will still be listening to one great American.
‘She gave a Yorkshire lass insight into love, feeling and depth of emotion’: Jennie Chapman, 33, singer, New York
Aretha brought soul into my life. She meant so much to me. She gave a Yorkshire lass insight into love, feeling and depth of emotion. She allowed me and my mother to forge a stronger bond than we ever would have had without her. Getting her tattooed on my leg was a way to always remind myself of true girl power and strength of feeling.
‘I will never forget that incredible voice as she sat at the piano and let it stream out like gold’: Kerry Lewis, 71, Northamptonshire
I ran a sort of Stax fan club in the 60s and visited Memphis in 1968. I was taken to see Dusty Springfield recording her iconic Dusty in Memphis album, and there I met Jerry Wexler of Atlantic records and he invited me to an Aretha recording session as I passed through New York on the way home. Aretha was recording an album with well-known jazz musicians. I will never forget that incredible voice as she sat at the piano and let it stream out like gold. The undisputed queen of soul. I still get goosebumps remembering that encounter with her.
‘She graciously stood there and waited for my camera to adjust’: Robin Martin, New Jersey
Aretha performed at the Count Basie theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. I was there to write a short article for my column Our State of Mind. I remember I went to the front as she was exiting the stage to the left and I got to the front just before she went backstage. My news camera was adjusting and I was waiting for it so I could take her picture. She graciously stood there and waited for me and my camera just so I could take it. It was so sweet and loving of her to stand there and wait for this freelance writer of a local paper to get a picture.
‘My first night in America was with Aretha’: Orhan Ayyuce, architect, Los Angeles
I arrived in Sacramento, California from Turkey on June 17 1975 when I was19. I didn’t speak a word of English. My hosts, thinking it would be interesting, drove me to Lake Tahoeand asked if I would be interested in seeing a show at Caesar’s. It turned Aretha Franklin was performing. Wow, my first night in America with Aretha! I knew her songs from back in Turkey, but never imagined I’d be listening to her concert like this. She had on a fur coat which she threw on the floor as she started the show. She connected me to this country in the most beautiful way. I’ll never forget that night and I’m forever grateful to her. Thank you, Aretha Franklin for connecting people and places. I send you the most heartfelt ‘respect’.
This article was amended on 20 August 2018 to correct the details of some of the contributors.
