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  1. #1
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    Aretha in the UK

    Has she been as successful in UK as in USA?

  2. #2
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    Let's see:
    16 Top 40's
    5 Top 10's
    1 #1 [[the duet with George Michael)

    3 gold albums
    4 silver albums
    9 Top 40 albums
    2 Top 10 albums

    She did OKAY but nothing compared to the States!

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    Thanks. Nothing to complain about!

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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Has she been as successful in UK as in USA?
    Think most people here will have HEARD of her, but try and name of her songs they'd be struggling, apart perhaps from Respect. As for I Never Loved A Man? No chance!

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    Hmmmm. So she has been another female singer there as opposed to the Queen of Soul?

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    I reckon "Respect", "I Say A Little Prayer" and "[[You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" are Aretha's best-known songs in the UK, in that order! And then "Who's Zoomin' Who" from the 80s. You also have "Sisters Are Doin' It It For Themselves" [[with Eurythmics) and "I Knew You Were Waiting [[For Me)" [[with George) which are well-known too. For most people that's probably it though.

  7. #7
    In the UK you'd be hard pressed to get the man in the street to name any Atlantic solo hits other than 'Respect' [[#10) and 'I Say A Little Prayer' [[#4). 'Natural Woman' was not a hit in the UK. From her later years perhaps 'Who's Zooming Who' [[#11) & 'A Deeper Love' [[#5). Her #1 duet with George Michael is probably her best known.

    http://www.officialcharts.com/artist...etha-franklin/

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    Even Petula Clark wasn't as successful charting in the UK as she was in the US from Downtown onwards. The reason? Your best bet for getting a hit in the UK in the 1960s was to perform your single on UK television. Radio play was a tricky business at that time [[hence the rise of Pirate radio).

    Aretha's "Queen of Soul" moniker is certainly known in the UK. Don't forget, the recent Aretha with new orchestral backing CD originated out of the UK. She is by no means an also-ran there.

  9. #9
    Dionne had a similar career to Aretha in the UK. However I feel she is better known because unlike Aretha she has toured here and appeared on TV many times over the past 50 years. If you don't promote yourself people will forget about you.

    http://www.officialcharts.com/artist...ionne-warwick/

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    It's sad that the person-in-the-streets could not name Aretha songs, but when I was the age of the person-in-the-streets I couldn't name an Artie Shaw hit to save my life. Face it: time moves on.

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    Quote Originally Posted by copley View Post
    Dionne had a similar career to Aretha in the UK. However I feel she is better known because unlike Aretha she has toured here and appeared on TV many times over the past 50 years. If you don't promote yourself people will forget about you.

    http://www.officialcharts.com/artist...ionne-warwick/
    It's crazy that as we see Aretha's overseas performances on YouTube, the fact she could've been bigger overseas than she was is almost tragic. She definitely could've been well known in the UK if, as you said, she did more performances there. Shoot, I imagine her Arista successes would've been better had she promoted the Who's Zoomin' Who and Aretha '86 albums there.

    I'm guessing Atlantic didn't really do wonders for Ree overseas as well as Motown did for their artists. Like I think people know way more of Marvin's stuff than they do Aretha in the UK now.

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    When was the last time she was in the UK? The 70s?

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    Quote Originally Posted by midnightman View Post
    It's crazy that as we see Aretha's overseas performances on YouTube, the fact she could've been bigger overseas than she was is almost tragic. She definitely could've been well known in the UK if, as you said, she did more performances there. Shoot, I imagine her Arista successes would've been better had she promoted the Who's Zoomin' Who and Aretha '86 albums there.

    I'm guessing Atlantic didn't really do wonders for Ree overseas as well as Motown did for their artists. Like I think people know way more of Marvin's stuff than they do Aretha in the UK now.
    I'm not in the UK, so I can only assume. But I would think even though Aretha's chart success there doesn't match hers in the US, she is still seen as a legend over there. I imagine that if she ever got over her fear of flying and mounted a European tour, it would do very well regardless of her record sales there.

    From what I can tell, she hasn't been to the UK since the early 80s, when she did a Royal Command Performance, as well as a few dates of her own. I think she appeared in France in 1983, for a Concert for The Americas tv special with Melissa Manchester and the Commodores.

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    No, she is seen as a legend in the UK just without the HUGE chart success, she has enough where people know who she is.

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    They know who Aretha Franklin is on Jupiter and Mars!

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    Why doesn’t she just take a boat??

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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Why doesn’t she just take a boat??
    That would be the answer. Takes longer,but she could plan at least 2 weeks over there. Not now, I mean maybe a few years ago. Aretha's winding down now at 76 years old.

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    Quote Originally Posted by luke View Post
    Why doesn’t she just take a boat??
    Time length probably. I was wondering why didn't she take a train?

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    If Aretha can take a bus to California as she did a few years ago she could take a boat to The UK!

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    Quote Originally Posted by midnightman View Post
    Time length probably. I was wondering why didn't she take a train?
    From what I've read, some of it is about fear. Some about control. On the bus, she can drive the route she likes, have the driver drive as fast or as slow as she likes, she can stop and get out when she wants to, etc. She can't do that on a boat or plane.

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    Quote Originally Posted by reese View Post
    From what I've read, some of it is about fear. Some about control. On the bus, she can drive the route she likes, have the driver drive as fast or as slow as she likes, she can stop and get out when she wants to, etc. She can't do that on a boat or plane.
    That sounds reasonable. Aretha definitely has been struggling with fear and maintaining control her whole life [[something David Ritz pointed out in his biography on her).

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    Quote Originally Posted by midnightman View Post
    That sounds reasonable. Aretha definitely has been struggling with fear and maintaining control her whole life [[something David Ritz pointed out in his biography on her).
    Yes. Her fear of flying is a manifestation of her PTSD. She is persevering through a lifetime of trauma as best she can.

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