On Friday a funeral service was held for the late Aretha Franklin at the Greater Grace Temple in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan. The Queen of Soul’s life and legacy was celebrated throughout by a wide array of luminaries who delivered moving eulogies and musical tributes.
As reported by Rolling Stone the service featured speeches from Bill Clinton, Clive Davis, Smokey Robinson, actress Cicely Tyson, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Rev. Jesse Jackson, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan who announced that the city’s new waterfront venue would be renamed “Aretha Franklin Park.”
Franklin was also remembered through music with the likes of Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, Faith Hill, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Fantasia and Stevie Wonder all performing. Hudson, who will play Franklin in an upcoming biopic, performed “Amazing Grace.” While Grande delivered one of Franklin’s signature tune’s “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman.” Additionally, Knight performed a version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” with Khan delivering the gospel song “Goin’ Up Yonder” and Hill offering the Christian hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
Wonder was the last to perform as he delivered a version of “The Lord’s Prayer” on harmonica before sharing a brief eulogy. Wonder, with the help of a choir, brass section and a number of the other performers closed out the funeral with “As” from his 1976 release Songs in the Key of Life.
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Watch Wonder perform “The Lord’s Prayer” & “As” below:
