Sunday, December 8, 2024

Aretha Franklin Will Get Royal Send off Fit for a Queen: Bill Clinton, Smokey Robinson, Clive Davis, Cicely Tyson Among Funeral Speakers

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The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, will get a royal send next Friday in Detroit. Her funeral, which is said could last as long as four hours, has incredible line up.

Former President Bill Clinton leads the list of speakers that includes Clive Davis, Smokey Robinson, Cicely Tyson, and Bishop TD Jakes. Aretha’s great friend Jesse Jackson is on the list as well as former US Attorney General Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, and award winning actress Cicely Tyson (who by the way is 91 years young).

Performers include Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Ronald Isley, Jennifer Hudson, Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Holliday, Shirley Caesar, and the Clark Sisters, as well as Aretha’s son, Eddie, who has a beautiful voice and is a chip off the old block.

A clutch of politicians, clergy, and prominent friends of Aretha’s will also make remarks including professor and TV personality Michael Eric Dyson. The Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr., Pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, will deliver the eulogy.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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