Sheléa sings and remembers the music of Aretha Franklin
Photos Courtesy of PBS SoCal
Grammy-nominated singer and composer Sheléa will celebrate the work of a singular force of musical magnitude, Aretha Franklin, with an upcoming performance at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on the evening of Nov. 9.
“There will never be another Aretha Franklin, or Whitney Houston, or Chaka Khan… But unless I'm at the core of it, and it's my truth, and you know it, it's just gonna fall flat because nobody can ever be those artists, right?” Sheléa told The Panther. “So it's always gonna have to have a lot of me in it.”
Previously performing a Franklin tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, she’ll be joined at the Segerstrom Concert Hall by Orange County’s Pacific Symphony and conductor Rickey Minor, a three-time Emmy winner and many-time nominee.
When approaching Franklin’s formidable catalog, Sheléa connected to the iconic artist’s upbringing first and foremost, which in some ways mirrored her own. Like Franklin, Sheléa’s father was a pastor and church is where each found the power of their voice: Sheléa started playing piano at seven, but her inclination toward music kicked into high gear when she was 12 and became a church musician where she honed her vocal abilities.
“The artist that she became, no matter what song or genre she sang in…” Sheléa told The Panther. “She brought that soulfulness that she got from the church and that was always going to be her perspective.”
Sheléa was careful not to give too much away about her selections from Franklin’s work — refusing to pick a favorite from the breadth of her songbook, but emphasizing her aim to showcase that very breadth with her show.
“When we were just deciding the songs, I really wanted to make sure that it was the fullness of everything that she was,” Sheléa said. “And so we've got music from the gospel albums. We've got, obviously, the pop hits and the big anthems. We also have when she was singing jazz standards… I have been getting to know her in such a different way because she's so much more than just ‘Natural Woman’ and ‘Respect,’ right?”
Sheléa also spoke to the importance of certain albums and songs within the arc of Franklin’s evolution, professionally and musically. Franklin’s soundtrack for the movie “Sparkle” brought her out of a creative slump, thanks to producer Curtis Mayfield.
“You can hear just the joy, the trauma,” Sheléa said. “Honestly, I feel like that's some of her best technical singing… being able to hit those notes… her musicality was just at an all-time high… so you could tell she had something to prove that you can hear.”
Sheléa is no stranger to working with legends of music, having just finished touring with Stevie Wonder. Wonder had his version of “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” covered by Franklin.
“Once Aretha gets her hands on a song, it's now her song,” Sheléa told The Panther. “Once Aretha puts her stamp on it, it's hard to see it any other way.”
The Panther spoke with Sheléa just a day after the passing of friend, mentor and music legend Quincy Jones, who was also a frequent musical collaborator of Franklin’s — Jones wanted his and Franklin’s version of “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” played at his funeral. Naturally, the topic of what Franklin and Jones’ songs meant in the aftermath of their loss was very much in the air — particularly, what Franklin’s meant after her passing in 2018.
“I think it reminds us that what we do is eternal, and as difficult as today has been for me, when we lost Aretha, that was also very, very difficult for me… but I knew her backwards and forwards, up and down, in and out through her music, I could hear her when she was joyful… when she was in pain,”Sheléa said. “I could hear when she was feeling strong.”
As for Sheléa’s own role in keeping the music of these legends alive even after they’ve left us, she said that she is just grateful to be the vessel for maintaining their legacy.
“I feel so close to (Franklin)...Their music makes (Jones and Franklin) immortal. And I'm just blessed and honored that I get to be part of that legacy that keeps them alive,” Sheléa said.
You can purchase tickets for the Nov. 9 performance starting at just $44 through the Segerstrom Center’s online ticketing system. For those who can’t make it, the performance will be filmed and broadcast on PBS stations nationwide in March 2025.
