Both Teena Marie and Aretha Franklin gave us music which spoke to our souls. This is we honor them as Queens of Soul. With this in mind, when they passed away the loss felt close to home. Both these queens were quite fond of each other and we came across a rare clip featuring the Ivory Queen of Soul Teena Marie, reminiscing about the original Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.
In 2011 clip, Ms. Marie acknowledged, “Aretha Franklin is a blessing on the earth. Speaking candidly, she reflected on a humorous moment they shared when Ms. Marie brought her daughters out to one of Ms. Franklin’s shows at the Nokia theater.
After the show, Marie wanted to introduce her goddaughter to Franklin. Before the story begins Marie makes a point to note, “Aretha still gets her money in CASH! She’s not signing nobody’s check. She want CASH…the money.”
Walking back stage, Franklin spotted Marie and greeted the girls. The first thing she said to Marie was, “how are you?” Marie promptly responded, “I’m good Retha, how are you doing?” “No, no, no, Teena–how are you?” Franklin asked again. Who could forget the whirlwind relationship between Rick James and Teena Marie? Considering it had been roughly two years since James’ passing at that point, Franklin showed concern for her soul sister and Marie appreciated the intimate moment amid the large crowd.
Getting back into the story, she says “Aretha had a big wad of cash and she took a picture with us.” When Marie took the picture home to have it enlarged, she then realized something funny.
“She [Aretha] had her arm around my daughter Alia’s shoulder, and she had about $50,000 sitting on my baby’s shoulder right here. And I showed that to my daughter, who just absolutely loves her [Aretha] and I said ‘you ain’t never ever gonna be without money.'” Check out the clip below.
While on the subject of Ms. Aretha Franklin, it is important to note that we are days away from kicking off our 5th annual Source 360 festival on September 6-9 in Brooklyn, NY. On September 8th, we will be honoring Ms. Franklin’s life and legacy with a special tribute show.
The Chicago Tribune noted that Franklin always liked to know every detail when it came down to tributes made to her. When BET inducted her into their Walk of Fame, she wanted to know wanted to know exactly who was performing and what they were singing.
We’re sure she’s watching from above, checking our lineup for the tribute. But just so you know, KeKe Wyatt, Elle Varner, and Renee Neufville are just a few of the people hitting our festival stage.
You won’t want to miss this so head over to Eventbrite and get your tickets to the tribute now! See you there and make sure you check out the complete list of events over at Eventbrite.
