Aretha tells Fanny: “Girl, sit’cho ass down!” Former adultress Fantasia Barrino became a Trending Topic on the blogosphere last week after she confessed that she boycotted the 2011 Grammy Awards — and missed an opportunity to accept her first gong after 11 failed nominations — all because show organizers left her off the bill for the opening performance, a tribute to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, featuring Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda Adams, Florence Welch, Martina McBride, and Christina Aguilera.
“I’m going to be very honest with you. You know I wasn’t at the Grammys last night. I’m kind of going through my own thing… Last night they were honoring someone who is my idol, Aretha Franklin, and there is no way I could have sat there and not got the happy feet and wanting to jump on the mic because she is my favorite so I felt like, you know, at the end of the day I should have been on that stage. I have this feeling, like every year I go, I feel like they always look over some of the good singers that are still around. I’m not trying to be funny, but that’s just the way I felt,” Barrino said.
After learning of Fantasia’s perceived slight, Aretha, who collaborated with the former American Idol on the 2007 tune “Let Me Put You Up on Game,” issued a statement, outlying her feelings on the subject. Famed for an ego that is at times as large as her powerhouse voice, Aretha has a word of advice for Fanny: “There’s no whining in singing!”
The “Chain of Fools” singer writes: “I was sorry to hear that Fantasia was upset because she did not get the opportunity to participate in my Grammy Tribute this year. I recall that in the past, Fantasia participated in both my MusicCares Person of the Year Tribute and my United Negro College Fund Tribute. Fantasia is still young in the business and although we all love and appreciate her she must understand that in this business of show business she will not always get to participate in everything she would like participate in. I’m sure it was not an intentional omission. I will see Fantasia over the summer here in Detroit.”
Daytime diva Wendy Williams has landed the first sit-down interview with Aretha Franklin since the Queen of Soul scrapped all of her concert dates to undergo treatment for an alleged pancreatic cancer diagnosis last year.
On The Wendy Williams Show Monday, the brassy chatterbox announced that she’d been invited to Franklin’s home in Detroit, where she’s expected to enjoy a round of exercise and “high tea” with the music legend between provocative chatting.
A Sad Day for Soul: As rumors persist that The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is battling terminal pancreatic cancer, insiders close to the music legend are livid with the “Respect” singer’s longtime friend, R&B star-turned-radio personality Keith Washington, who is accused of giving press interviews on Franklin’s condition and broadcasting one of their private conversations to his listeners without Aretha’s consent.
A new tabloid report claims that the mystery illness that has sidelined music legend Aretha Franklin from the stage until May is much more serious than gout or a bad case of heartburn.
In fact, the Queen of Soul could be in for the fight of her life.
The son of soul legend Aretha Franklin is in emergency surgery in a Michigan hospital after he was severely beaten by three teens at a gas station in Detroit Monday evening, the singing icon spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Aretha Franklin was left “highly insulted” earlier this month after she was asked to become the latest celebrity spokesperson for weight-loss giant Jenny Craig.
The Queen of Soul — who tips the scales at nearly 300 pounds nowadays — signed up with the company two years ago and dropped 25 pounds on a 1,750 calorie-a-day diet. Aretha quit Jenny Craig a few months later, complaining that she was “always starving.”
In the June 2007 issue of Sister 2 Sister Magazine, Aretha, 67, said: “I lost 23 or 24 pounds to begin with, but it’s kind of a strain when you get to 23 or 24 pounds. That’s why I got off of it. It’s a strain because you’re eating the Jenny Craig-type meals, which are very good. But you can only eat them for so long before you want some barbecue ribs or some pigs feet. Once you get off that Jenny Craig thing and you start eating what you’ve been eating, it’s all over.”
Aretha Franklin celebrated her 67th birthday in Detroit on Monday–with a cake decorated like the hat she wore to President Obama’s inauguration in January.
Luke Song, the Detriot-based hatmaker who made the headwear soul legend Aretha Franklin wore to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, has been inundated with orders for the the grey hat with a Swarovski rhinestone-bordered bow. Read the rest of this entry »
