NEW YORK (AP) – Aretha Franklin does not let her birthdays pass quietly.
The Queen of Soul celebrated her birthday with some 100 of her friends Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton in Manhattan for an evening of music and tributes. Franklin turned 74 on March 25.
She sat at a corner table with record executive Clive Davis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson among others, nodding her head along to performances by the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars and Dennis Edwards of Temptations fame.
All that was missing was Aretha Franklin music. Franklin herself let other singers have the stage, and the material ranged from the Gillespie band’s cover of “Body and Soul” to Edwards’ emotional performance of “Some Enchanted Evening.”
A cake was wheeled out to a tape recording of Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday.”