In 2018, Aretha Franklin lost her battle to pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. The world mourned the artist who was filled with immense talent, personality and a voice unlike no other. While we pay homage to her life and legacy by replaying some of her most popular tunes, such as “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Respect,” we thought we’d explore some info we’ve found out about her life.
Here are some things we learned about Aretha Franklin after her passing.
She was hip to the times
Aretha Franklin was a huge fan of technology, according to Rolling Stone. Instead of picking up the phone to chat, sources shared that the singer loved to send text messages. It was her thing.
As an added note, they always knew when she had just gotten her nails done because she’d still text vigorously, but miss a few letters along the way.
Shy behind the scenes
Gladys Knight sat down with Entertainment Tonight and reminisced about the legend. Gladys shared that despite having a mega presence and powerhouse vocals, Aretha Franklin was quite different away from the stage. “Aretha was really shy,” Gladys said. “People just don’t know that about her.”
Thankfully, Aretha didn’t let her shyness get in the way of becoming one of the greatest singers to ever do it!
Estate drama
The Detroit Free Press reports in the years leading up to Aretha Franklin’s health decline, the singer’s family asked Sabrina Owens — Aretha’s niece — to oversee her business affairs as the executor of her $17 million estate. “She trusted me and was always confident I would exercise good judgment,” Sabrina said.
Sabrina took on the role contingent upon two conditions: there were to be no fractures to familial relationships and no court disputes over disagreements within the estate. Both happened as Aretha’s youngest son, Kecalf Franklin, petitioned the court to take over handling the estate. His attempts were resisted by Aretha’s two other sons.
With the mounting stress, Sabrina stepped down from her role in Feb. 2020. In a statement published by the Detroit Free Press, she wrote: “I hope that my departure will allow the business of the estate to continue, calm the rift in my family and allow me to return to my personal life.” Sabrina added, “I love my cousins, hold no animosity towards them, and wish them the best.”
As of March 2020, a lawyer who said he knew and “idolized” the singer was announced as the interim manager of the estate, ABC News reports.
She left behind three wills
At the time of her death, her family members and loved ones revealed she didn’t leave behind a will. But months later, one thing we learned about Aretha Franklin after her passing was that she had three handwritten wills in her Detroit home.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the wills were scattered all over her house, including the most recent one — dated March 2014 — which was located inside a spiral notebook underneath cushions in her living room. In the will, she asked that her son Kecalf Franklin be the executor of her estate. However, the Detroit Free Press reports the writing of the four-page will is “hard to decipher.” By our assessment, the other two wills — dated Oct. 20, 2010, and June 21, 2010 — are just as ineligible.
Fortune reported in 2019 the wills were being examined by a handwriting expert to confirm their validity. As recently as Feb. 2020, the family is still battling it out over the singer’s estate.
She wanted her sons to have everything
In each of her three handwritten wills, Aretha Franklin consistently hoped to spread her wealth equally between her four sons, the Detroit Free Press shares. Although the language in her three wills varied, it was clear she intended for everything to be “equally distributed” between her sons Edward, Teddy, and Kecalf, while her son Clarence, who has special needs, received his distribution in detailed provisions.
A paternity bombshell
At the age of 12, Aretha Franklin gave birth to her first son, Clarence Franklin. For years, it was presumed that Clarence’s dad was a man named Donald Burk — one of Aretha’s schoolmates.
Well, one of the things we learned about Aretha Franklin after her passing was the truth about Clarence’s real dad. In the singer’s will, dated June 21, 2010, she writes that Clarence’s father is actually Edward Jordan Sr. Edward is also reportedly the father of Aretha’s second eldest son, Edward Clarence Jr., whom she gave birth to at the age of 14.
Like most things pertaining to Aretha’s personal life, not much is known about Edward Sr. What we do know is author David Ritz described him as a “player” in the biography Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin.
In the aforementioned will, Aretha wanted it to be clear that Edward Sr. never made any contributions to Clarence’s welfare and was to “never receive or handle any money or property belonging to Clarence.”
Aretha’s spidey senses must’ve been tingling because following her passing, Edward Sr. indeed tried to get his paws on her music royalties, USA Today reports.
She owed a lot of taxes
In Dec. 2018 the IRS had their hands out. According to TMZ, the IRS believed the singer owed $6.3 million in back taxes from 2012 to 2018. Oh, and $1.5 million in penalties. Ouch.
The attorney for her estate told the Associated Press the estate had already handed over $3 million to the IRS following Aretha’s August 2018 passing.
In May 2019, her estate asked the court for approval to begin selling some of the singer’s property to help cover her outstanding debt, including a 1.05-acre lot of land in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan that had a $1.4 million price tag.
She was stashing uncashed checks
According to Billboard (via the New York Times), uncashed checks were found lying around Aretha Franklin’s house in Aug. 2019. The two checks totaled nearly $1 million. One was for her publishing company in the amount of $286,000, and the other was from the Sound Exchange and Screen Writers Guild for just under $702,000. It’s unclear as to why Aretha didn’t bother to deposit the checks into the bank.
An interesting royalty agreement
Aretha Franklin had an interesting deal set up with Warner Brothers, the parent company of Atlantic Records that released some of her biggest hits, including “Respect.” Following her passing, it was revealed Aretha opted to receive $100,000 annually in royalty payments instead of receiving payments periodically throughout the year. According to the Detroit Free Press, the label also had deferred royalties of $1.6 million as of 2010.
It’s believed that Aretha set it up this way to reduce her yearly tax burden. But to this day, no one knows for sure.
No thank you, Mr. President
Aretha Franklin was tapped to perform at President Barack Obama’s 2008 inauguration. And, of course, she brought the house down. The man who succeeded Obama wanted Aretha to perform at his inauguration, as well. However, the Queen of Soul said aht aht!
Author Lachlan Markay revealed in his book, Sinking in the Swamp, that Trump, who considered himself a long-time friend of the singer’s, made arrangements for her to perform at his inauguration. However, Aretha, being a civil rights activist and known liberal, made it quite clear. Lachlan wrote: “no amount of money” could convince her to play Trump’s inauguration.
With the singer’s official biopic entitled Respect expected to hit theaters in Jan. 2021, we can only imagine what other tidbits about the Queen of Soul’s fascinating life will be brought to life!
Are you surprised by the things we learned about Aretha Franklin following her passing?