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'I'm not a star, I'm the lady next door': revisit Aretha Franklin's first Canadian TV interview

By
CBC Music

In 1998, Aretha Franklin gave her first Canadian TV interview to CBC's Laurie Brown. The "Queen of Soul" opened up about performing live, being a "domestic goddess" when she's at home, her father and that time she was bumped off of The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963.

During the interview, Franklin described her first trip to New York City — her first trip anywhere outside of her hometown of Detroit — and how she thought that signified her status as a star. "I didn't think I was supposed to do housework anymore, I'm a star now!" she remembered. That's when she recalled her father, C.L. Franklin, stepping in to remind her that it didn't exempt her from doing the dishes. "I have not been a star since. I really needed that. He grounded me and he gave me balance and from then on I'm not a star, I'm the lady next next door."

Watch Brown's full interview with Franklin below, courtesy of the CBC Archives.

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