Prolific biographer David Ritz collaborated with Aretha Franklin 20 years ago to produce Aretha: From These Roots, an endearing but incomplete autobiography. Built on extensive interviews with Aretha’s siblings, co-producers and peers, Respect is Ritz’s often-contrary companion piece. Ritz deftly presents the dualities of the artist’s life, acknowledging contradictions and commonalities—church/flesh, art/commerce, imagination/pragmatism, romance/liberation—as well as Aretha’s unwavering commitment to charity and civil rights.
This portrait of the lonely superstar relates the Franklin family’s many joys and trials throughout the Great Migration and delves deeply into her music, especially gospel. Caveat: Aretha’s children are not part of Ritz’s story, and the final chapters of Respect are gossipy and judgmental. Major correction: Almighty Fire, an album dismissed by Ritz as lacking fire, is a blazing, relentless must-hear.
