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David
Ritz is an award-winning author who has co-written other autobiographies
and biographies of musical greats including Marvin Gaye and
Etta James. He wanted to revisit the Queen of Soul because
he was unable to break through her protective shell when working
on Aretha: From These Roots, a book he co-authored with her
in 1999. He claims the first book offered Aretha's version
of her life, and was not the book he wanted to write. In Respect:
The Life of Aretha Franklin, Ritz provides his version of
her life based on interviews with her siblings and music industry
experts, although Aretha refused his offer to participate.
Unlike the first book, Respect digs deeply into issues of
abandonment, abuse, anger, infidelity, instability, and insecurity
within the Franklin family. Ritz notes in the introduction,
Aretha was willing to write another book with him to update
her accomplishments, but they could not agree on the project
when he wanted to expose the less-savory parts of her past,
such as promiscuity, adolescent pregnancies, and drug use,
all widely accepted in that time and atmosphere, he writes.
Utilizing many different sources, including archival footage
and news reports from print and broadcast media, the author
combines the opinions of people in her life with opinions
of music critics and factual news reports about milestones
in her life. Reports of Aretha's shyness in the studio, insecurity
about herself, and insatiable ambition are included from multiple
sources.
Read with gusto by Brad Raymond (in altered voices when acting
as narrator, and for quoting male and female sources), this
audiobook covers lots of territory. Respect details major
family dysfunctions Aretha endured as a child (philandering
father and abandonment followed by early death of her mother),
the inside workings of the music business with other performers
and at various labels, and her personal rise to fame amidst
a family of competitive performers.
Also available in hardcover and as an e-book, Respect is divided
into five parts: Sacred Sources, Columbia, Atlantic, Arista,
and The Lioness in Winter. An accompanying PDF includes acknowledgments,
notes, bibliography, selected discography, selected videography
and filmography, and index. Well-researched, though occasionally
repetitive and salacious, Respect should appeal to Franklin
fans hoping for some of the dirty laundry left out of Aretha:
From These Roots.
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| Reviewer
Leslie C. Halpern is the author of Passionate About Their
Work: 151 Celebrities, Artists, and Experts on Creativity,
Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub: Funny Children's Poems About
Self-Image, and Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes: Funny
Children's Poems About Table Manners. |
