Do Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke have a secret?

[jobeterob]

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~YD~ 06-30-2005 03:43 AM

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Exposing the Many Skeletons in Aretha Franklin's Closet...

I've just finished reading this shitrag autobiography of Aretha Franklin's for the 2nd time and I must say, that this book is more full of shit than Diana Ross's "Secrets of a Sparrow" fluff autobio. Re-Re leaves so many gaps and holes in her life's story that this book is fucking fiction at best. OK, I know that ya'll are not from Detroit, so there's a lot of things that ya'll don't know about Re-Re's life that nay Detroiters are aware of, but she has been through hell and back and I guess she refuses to share her story with the public the way Chaka, Patti, Donna Summer and other Divas have done in the past. Instead Aretha and Co-Author David Ritz simply sugar-coated, glossed over and kept silent about a lot of things and ended up short-changing her readers:

*Born in Memphis, Tenn. Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942. Her family moved to Detroit when she was 2.

*Her mother, Barbara, abandoned the family when she was 6, then died a few years later leaving Aretha, her sister's Carolyn and Erma, and brothers Cecil and Vaughan to be raised by their bible-thumping father, a prominent preacher Rev. Clarence Le Vaughan Franklin.


*She has 4 sons, by 4 different men: Clarence[[ who she got pregnant with at 14, rumored to be her father Rev. C.L. Franklin's child), had Edward two years later, Ted Jr. and KeCalf.

*Dropped out of high school and often left her kids with relatives while she chased men and pursued her musical career.

*Was a victim of incest and domestic violence[[husband ted White was her manager who beat the hell out of her. He makes Ike look like Cliff Huxtable.

* Rev. C.L. Franklin fornicated with gospel singer Clara Ward for many years and was good friends with Rev. James Cleveland[[a closeted gay pedaphile preacher who molested dozen of his young male church members and infected many with AIDS before he died with the disease himself in 1991).

*Hates airplanes but loves to cook and eat. She is petrified of planes and has unhealthy habit of overeating.

*Has had a drinking problem since she was in her early 20's.

* Is a very gifted pianist despite not knowing how to read sheet music.

*Has had bitter fallouts with Cissy Houston, Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples, Barbara Striesand, Luther Vandross, Patti Labelle or Diana Ross.

* In 2003, her second oldest son, Edward Franklin, was under investigation for setting fire to one of her mansions in Bloomfield township, MI when police discovered him smelling of smoke and found traces of flame acclerant on his clothing close the scene of the crime. The arson charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence and because Aretha, her friend/employee/former fire chief, and Edward's lover George West wouldn't cooperate with the police and prosecutors. It is a well-known rumor that Edward is strung out on drugs and alcohol, openly gay and infected with AIDS and has resented his mother for years because he was molested by her ex-husband, actor Glynn Turman, when he was younger.

* Her father was arrested for marijuana possession, was indicted for tax evasion and was under federal invesstigation for alleged ties to a major drug ring in Miami.
Although they claimed that their intent was to rob him for some expensive windows in his home, the guys who broke into his home and shot him were actually there to rob him for his $$ and dope, but he was at home at the time and exchanged gunfire with his assailants that night in 1979. He was shot in the knee and groin, lapsed into a coma where he remained for 5 years until his death in 1984[[same year that Marvin Gaye died). When the police collected evidence from the scene of the crime, they found a closet full of porn and $10,000 hidden in the good Rev's home.

* Although she has a personal net worth of $20 million, she has been sued numerous times for back taxes, not paying her employees and running up thousands if $$ in tabs and stiffing the bill.

*This autobiography "From These Roots" was highly anticipated, but was a major disappointment because it didn't reveal much about her personal life and covered up a lot of scandal regarding her dysfunctional upbringing, abusive, volatile marriages, many love affairs[[most famous one was with Sam Cooke), numerous celebrity fueds, shady facts surrounding her father's death, financial troubles, etc.

[summer96]

Exposing the Many Skeletons in Aretha Franklin's Closet...

I've just finished reading this shitrag autobiography of Aretha Franklin's for the 2nd time and I must say, that this book is more full of shit than Diana Ross's "Secrets of a Sparrow" fluff autobio. Re-Re leaves so many gaps and holes in her life's story that this book is fucking fiction at best. OK, I know that ya'll are


*She has 4 sons, by 4 different men: Clarence[[ who she got pregnant with at 14, rumored to be her father Rev. C.L. Franklin's child), had Edward two years later, Ted Jr. and KeCalf.

Is there any evidence supporting the fact that her father was the father of her child?