DETROIT—A Detroit church swelled with gospel music on Friday for the funeral of Aretha Franklin, driving mourners to their feet to clap and sing ahead of tributes to the queen of soul by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and singer Stevie Wonder.
Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were onstage to honor Franklin’s contributions to the 1960s civil rights movement. Sharpton took to the pulpit to call her the soundtrack of the movement, with songs such as her signature 1967 hit “Respect.”
Singer Faith Hill performs at the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan, on Aug. 31, 2018. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
The funeral had been billed as closed to the public, but crowds of fans gathered outside, many dressed in their Sunday best. Some were admitted into the church to sit behind Franklin’s family.
“This is as close you get to royalty here in America and Aretha earned every bit of it,” said Missy Settlers, 53, an automotive parts assembler.
Franklin, who died at her Detroit home from pancreatic cancer, began her musical career as a child singing gospel at the city’s New Bethel Baptist Church, where her father, C.L. Franklin, was the pastor, famous for his hypnotic sermons.
The city has treated her death as the passing of royalty, with Franklin’s body laying in repose in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History’s grand rotunda for two days of public visitation earlier this week.
Mayor Mike Duggan announced at the service that he intended to have the city’s riverfront Chene Park renamed in Franklin’s honor.
Her coffin is to be entombed on Friday in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery near the remains of her father; her brother, Cecil Franklin; and her sisters, Carolyn and Erma Franklin.
