We are pleased to present the series: The Aretha Franklin RESPECT & AMAZING GRACE SITUATION ROOM.

The late Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin pays one of the sweetest tributes to Amazing Grace through her biopic, RESPECT. Without question, RESPECT is definitely one of Aretha Franklin’s greatest hits and a great title for her authorized biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker and others, but without the strong showing by Amazing Grace in her life, it is doubtful if the call for RESPECT would have been heeded. Or if there would have been any inspirational story to tell in the first place.

After the live recording of the “AMAZING GRACE” concert was released in 1972, it became the best-selling album of Aretha Franklin’s career. Her story is as much the story of Amazing Grace as it was a call for her to be given some RESPECT. Actually, the story is more about Amazing grace than the call for RESPECT because even after the world accorded her some of the respect she deserved, her abusive boyfriend, Ted continued to treat her with disrespect.

In the coming days we would highlight twelve of the many Amazing Grace moments from her remarkable story in what we have tagged “The Aretha Franklin’s RESPECT & AMAZING GRACE SITUATION ROOM.”

The goal is to encourage and cheer the hearts of persons who may have found themselves in some situations similar to those the Queen of Soul encountered. Long before she ‘channeled’ the spirit of John Newton through his most famous song, ‘Amazing Grace’ at the Baptist Church on that fateful day in 1972, the spirit of amazing grace had been with her all the way. Her father (Forest Whitaker) knew this, despite his own ‘contributions’ to the ragged patch she had to walk. He said to her in one of the most moving moments in the movie: “You were with God. You have always been with God.”

Despite the rape incident, which ended in a pregnancy for her as a little girl, amongst other debilitating challenges, she still ended up an as a great success and inspiration to the rest of the world. Victims of

rape, ‘forced’ to carry unwanted pregnancies with all the accompanying scars and brokenness, may yet find for themselves healing, comfort and realize some of their dreams. Aretha told her mother she wanted to sing. And sing she did, despite all the interruptions. Amazing Grace did not leave her alone.