Dear Mark: Aretha Franklin

The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
1 | Aretha Franklin
by Mary J. Blige

Rolling Stone Online
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/greatestsingers

Who: Mary J. Blige, the author of the article, is a hip hop and soul singer who owes a lot of her inspiration and success to Aretha Franklin. The article focuses on Franklin's music and how it had an emotion influence on Blige and her mother. "As a child, I used to listen to Aretha's music because my mom played "Do Right Woman" and "Ain't No Way" every single day," says Blige. "I would see my mother cry when she listened to those songs, and I'd cry too."

What: The article is an ode-to-Aretha and how she is a "gift from God." Blige lists Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Aaron Neville and Annie Lennox as some of the many musicians who have been influenced by Aretha Franklin and her commanding voice. "She is the reason why women want to sing," says Blige. "Aretha has everything — the power, the technique. She is honest with everything she says," and this is what makes Aretha one of the top 100 singers of all time.

Where: There is no location for this article. We could say that it takes place in Music Land; a place that has no limit to imagination and no sense of time. Music Land is a linear history of talent and sound crammed onto the hard drive of a 32GB iPod.

When: Once again there is no date we can put on this article. The fact that Aretha Franklin is a great singer and performer is something that cannot be changed. Aretha’s music will always be relevant to musicians. People will continue to look back at the elements of successful pop culture and they will take tid-bits here and there to produce something that evolved from the past.

However, Mary J. Blige's article was written quite recently.

Why: As said before, this article is like an ode-to-Aretha and Blige wishes to honour the talents that have inspired her to record and sing. We are living in an age that has so many avenues of music. There are rock-and-roll purists, metal heads, underground indie hipsters, hip hop singers switched on to auto-tune, ect...
Blige, as well as Rolling Stone, is honouring a monolithic artist who helped make music what to it is today. Sometimes we have to look back in order to move forward and Aretha Franklin is one reason to keep looking back.