Honors Memories: Aretha Franklin honors Carole King | 2015 Kennedy Center Honors 

🤔I think that you would be CORRECT!

One of the best

Absolutely!! Hands down!!

Say it AGAIN King!!

Nope. Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. Aretha made this about her and not Carole King. Heart made it ALL about Led Zeppelin.

Really astonishing

Well, what can one say? It's Aretha Franklin my dear. A diva, a queen, an icon, a vocalist out of this world. She's the Queen of soul for a reason.

A woman who has my R E S P E C T!!!!

I loved her my whole teen life and still do.

Mixed voice G5 is no joke

THAT did it for me, I was took OUT!!💜💜💜 Continue to Sleep In Him Queen

I completely agree. And i never use words like "best" either. But i cried over how good this was. This woman is so soulful it is incredible.

Ms. Franklin started out singing and playing piano for her father's large church in Detroit when she was still in school. She signed with Motown after years of gospel choir and piano experience. It's just too hard for those who are solo artists to play and sing and cover the stage while tied to the piano, so they often switch back and forth. This was iconic in part because in her 70s the Queen actually started out playing for herself in a public performance! The man who slid onto the bench when she stood up normally played for her in concerts for many years, so this was a deliberate gift to honor Ms. King because just anybody wasn't going to get Ms. Franklin who was quite ill by this time. Even agreeing to sing, no one expected that she was going to play that piano herself. My late Uncle Van Cephus was told that he was her favorite pianist, and she would have him come play private parties for her family at her house in Detroit. He was trained in classical but professionally played gospel, funk and R&B with big artists for years. To have this lady tell you that you can play piano was such a huge compliment because she could throw down on piano in a way that most never got to see.

And me

The President shares your feelings as well as anyone fortunate enough to have seen this.

When she sang this, she was very ill and likely knew this might be her last performance before going home to sing for the King of all kings.

Oh how she is missed!

Wonderfully said Sir!

Why are all these lefties applauding like mad for a two-gender supportive tune! Don't understand...... What is a woman? 🙂 And even more precise:"What is a NATURAL woman? 😉

I wish we could go back to that time, before the world divided into splinters and labels of hatred..

I'd say this one and Heart's to Zeppelin were two of the very best. Over shadowing who they were honoring which is saying something.

So true that was masterpiece

She is - just follow her lead. Aretha left many footprints.

Me too I cried too

She wasn't expecting Ree to play the piano. That's what really took her over.

She co-wrote the song with her ex-husband. Jerry Wexler gave them the title.

That's because it was like it was being sung for the first time. How surreal? What a high honor, for someone like Aretha to sing your song

@@drpsett Exactly. People familiar with Aretha's career know she was a gifted pianist and when she played (which wasn't often enough), it elevated her musicality even further. Carole knew when Aretha sat down to play for her that she was in for something major, and was being paid the highest respect by the queen!

Period

I knew this was one thing that made Americans stand together. Music brought black and whites together, no hate just sharing the common love in music!

@presidentherberthoover2570 I appreciate the kindness behind your comment, but, no. Ms. Franklin’s voice significantly diminished in range, timbre, tone and nuance as she aged and faced significant health conditions. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t still an engaging performer, but she was a shadow of her peak. For truly great examples of aging performers who kept their voices into their late 70s and 80s, I’d suggest you listen to Darlene Love, Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Tom Jones. Now, even their vocal register lowered over time, but the power and ability to hold a note without resorting to vibrato remained.

Like all truly great artists, Aretha wouldn't have done it if she couldn't have delivered.

CAROLE composed the music. The gorgeous lyrics were written by Carole's husband, Gerry Goffin.

Beautifully said.