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 Franklin died last week at the age of 76 from pancreatic cancer
in Detroit, where she began her career as a child singing gospel
in the New Bethel Baptist Church choir.
Her soaring voice, seared with emotion, would become the
inspirational standard for other singers to match.
The preacher's daughter first topped the charts in 1967 with
"Respect," her no-nonsense reworking of a modest hit for Otis
Redding into an enduring anthem for feminism and the civil
rights movement.
Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson, Ronald Isley and Stevie Wonder,
among others, are due to sing at her funeral on Friday at
Detroit's Greater Grace Temple. Former U.S. President Bill
Clinton, who had Franklin sing at his 1993 inauguration
celebrations, will be among the speakers. She also sang at
former President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.
Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but moved to Detroit,
Michigan, as a small child as the city became a refuge for black
Americans in the mid-20th century escaping racist Jim Crow
segregation laws in southern states.
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The city, which would become synonymous with the secular outgrowth
of gospel music known as soul, is treating Franklin's death as the
passing of royalty, with a week of mourning, including a free
tribute concert at a park on Thursday evening.
While Friday's funeral is closed to the public, the streets outside
are due to be lined with dozens of pink Cadillacs, the Detroit-built
luxury cars. Franklin sang of cruising through the city in a pink
Cadillac in her 1985 hit "Freeway of Love", which earned her one of
her 18 Grammy Awards.
(Reporting by Nick Carey in Detroit and Jonathan Allen in New York;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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