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GRAMMYs

Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics

Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

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Aretha Franklin's 'Who's Zoomin' Who?' Turns 35 producer-narada-michael-walden-talks-working-aretha-franklin-whos-zoomin-who

Producer Narada Michael Walden Talks Working With Aretha Franklin On 'Who's Zoomin' Who?'

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For 'Who's Zoomin' Who?'s 35th anniversary, find out how the GRAMMY-winning producer teamed up with the Queen of Soul to create a sound that would come to define R&B in the mid-'80s
Ron Hart
GRAMMYs
Jul 23, 2020 - 8:48 am

Aretha Franklin was just in her early 40s when she began working on her 29th studio album, Who's Zoomin' Who?, released 35 years ago this month.

In 2020, a pop icon recording a hit record at that age would be no big deal whatsoever. Especially when you consider just how relevant the Queen of Soul herself remained until her final days upon her passing in 2018 at 76, and how such modern acts in their 40s as The Chicks and Fiona Apple are achieving these new heights in their respective careers during this period in their lives. Age means nothing anymore in pop, regardless of what an older model of the music industry might say.

However, in 1985, the music industry was a far, far more misogynistic beast. While some might have harped on Ms. Franklin's age upon her entering the studio with percussion master Narada Michael Walden, the singer doubled down on the success she saw Tina Turner have with Private Dancer and grabbed the modern sound of the mid-'80s with as much ferocity as she did on such unstoppable classics as Aretha Now and Spirit In The Dark.

Walden was also having the best year ever in 1985, producing hits not just for Aretha but Whitney Houston, Clarence Clemons (who guests on the smash single "Freeway of Love"), Dionne Warwick and Jermaine Stewart as well that year plus his own solo album The Nature of Things. Oh yes, and the soundtrack to the John Travolta/Jamie Lee Curtis Rolling Stone rom-com Perfect, which featured Berlin, Nona Hendryx, Thompson Twins, Wham!, Lou Reed and others. But as the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer tells GRAMMY.com in this exclusive interview, being able to work with Aretha that winter to formulate a sound that empowered her to directly compete with all of these modern acts remains at the very pinnacle of a career that continues to forge ahead non-stop with the upcoming release of his excellent new LP Immortality this August.

What follows is a lengthy and revealing chat about the path that brought Aretha and Narada together and the creation of a sound that would come to define R&B in the mid-'80s in the form of a most essential title in the Aretha Franklin catalog.

It's quite amazing to listen to Who's Zoomin' Who? in 2020 and recognize how much the themes of this album of empowerment, perseverance and sisterhood resonate even more amidst the #MeToo era.

Aretha is that kind of person, someone who always punctuated everything that she did and everything that she sang with her own convictions. And she always took time to learn it, so she could infuse her own sense of soul, so that everything she sang had purpose. She paid attention, and it was all memorized—she knew exactly what she wanted to do and knew all the words. I brought the lyrics into the studio with me, but she didn't need them because they were all in her head.

We would cut the tracks and present them to Aretha, who'd say that she liked it and would take it home to learn it. Then she would take her time showing up to the studio in Detroit, United Sound. But when she arrived, everything would be memorized. It was incredible. I was knocked out by how professional she was.

She must have been quite a presence in the studio.

I can tell you this, I was petrified to look her right in the eyes when I first met her. She was so powerful that when you looked in her eyes you saw just how magnanimous she is and was. With her, you bowed down and stayed down! [Laughs.]

It really is wild to consider how recording in your early 40s is such a different trip in 2020 than it was in 1985, right?

Right. We're living longer, and Aretha lived longer, too. And it's her music that continually keeps us young and hip and current. Right up until her death, she was asking me to write songs for her. She was extremely current right up until the end.

What do you think about how much your production style in 1985 not only on the Aretha album but all your work during that period is being explored and reimagined by the younger generation of pop artists? Do you hear a lot of it on the radio?

I hear a lot of that recipe of Linn Drum combined with my own percussion combined with electronic drum pads, which were set up like a classic kit but would trigger the sound when I played them. It was a combination of all those things. We also all loved The Time, and I really loved that synthesized bass Randy Jackson used to play with one finger. Stevie Wonder was using that sound at the time, too. That was all kind of new, and we forged right into it. Anything we could do that was attention getting, that made you pay attention, stand up and come to the dance floor or play it on the radio, we did all those things to make it smashing. We really wanted to make big, big, big hits that would last forever.

Did any producers at the time inspire your ambition?

Always. I always believed in digesting what's current and what's hot, and I believe in marrying a song with what's current in terms of studio production to see if it has strong legs. Then I mix it up like gumbo. But the key was that combination of real drums and real handclaps and real tambourines and real piano, but mixed in with the futuristic synthesizers. That was always on my brain at the time, because of that combo of something old and something new. It was very important. And then Tina Turner came out with "What's Love Got To Do With It" and Private Dancer, which was made by men from the U.K. in the members of Heaven 17! We saw how they were forging ahead with their idea of soul music and keeping it current with their machines. So when that came to America, we grabbed a hold of it to use with Aretha. It was very, very much my intention to give Aretha more hit records.

How did the collaboration process begin with Aretha for this album?

When I first started working with her on this album, I brought two songs: "Until You Say You Love Me," which is a personal favorite of mine. Her father, the great Reverend CL Franklin, had just died after being in a coma for two years. So that thaw had been lifting of her in that she wanted to get back into the studio again. So this was the first song she was recording since her father passed. I remember she murdered it in one take. It was frightening. Then we got to the song that would become "Who's Zoomin' Who?" When I first called him, Clive Davis suggested I give Aretha a phone call. So I called her on the telephone and asked her what she did for fun. And she said, "I go out to a nightclub, and in the club I might see a guy in the corner who looks good. And if he looks at me when I look at him, it's like who's zoomin' who?" So I wrote that down. She was like, "He thinks he's got me, but the fish was already off the hook!" [Laughs.] That's how she normally talked. So I wrote these lyrics from that phone call, gave 'em back to her in the form of the title song and it became a smash.

Have you heard anything about Zoom trying to acquire the rights to the song from Aretha's estate for possible advertising opportunities?

I haven't, but I sure hope so! I would love to have there be a thing where they use the song for their campaigns. I think it would be great! It would be perfect, because she was so far ahead of our time with that phrase. Now here we are, and millions of people are connecting through Zoom every day. To have it used in some capacity would be wonderful, and I know Aretha would've loved that, too.

How did "Freeway of Love" come about?

It was actually a song I had written for my own album, and Jeffrey Cohen helped me on it. We've written a lot of songs together, including on Who's Zoomin' Who?. But it was Preston Glass, who also writes with me, who said, "Hey what about that song 'Freeway of Love' for Aretha?" I said to him, "You're a genius, bro, I would've never thought of that!" So we looked at the lyrics to the song and wanted to make sure it was updated for Aretha. She made that song hers, just like she did with Otis Redding's "Respect." That's what she does—she'll take a song and make it her own version, which will be very different from the original. She was really good at making something "Aretha."

How did you recruit Clarence Clemons to play sax on "Freeway"?

Roy Bittan suggested bringing Clarence on board. And Roy got a hold of him. So he came down to the studio and he put sax on that thing and he just smoked it! We became the best friends ever soon after, so much so that he moved to California to work on his solo album Hero with me.

"Push" is another highlight of Who's Zoomin' Who? Do you recall Peter Wolf's mindset heading into his duet with Aretha?

Peter Wolf was very nervous about the song. He and I went out to dinner the night before recording to get to know each other, and he really understood that he was about to go in the boxing ring with The Queen. And that made him nervous. But he did a very good job. Also, don't forget before I went to Detroit I put down in the studio the blueprint of the guy/girl vocals how I thought they should be on the song, which made it a lot easier when we went into the studio. He had all his parts memorized beforehand, so he could improvise with Aretha and they were able to interact having both known the song.

You had a lot of projects popping in 1985. Did any of them interfere with your work on Who's Zoomin' Who?

I was so focused on making this album, because I knew if I had gotten it right that we could win GRAMMYs and it would be a huge thing. I saw that NARAS gave Aretha a GRAMMY in 1982 for her rendition of "Hold On, I'm Coming." I was like, if they are giving her a GRAMMY for a song that wasn't a big hit for Aretha, we are gonna give her some original material in the now that will dominate because they had so much love for her already. Then I got a phone call from Jerry Griffin in the middle of making Who's Zoomin' Who? and he said, "You gotta come in and do a song for me." I was like, "What is it? I can't do that right now." And he replied, "No, no, we are recording Whitney Houston—Cissy Houston's daughter—and I have a hook for this song 'How Will I Know' and I need you to produce it." I kept telling him I couldn't do it, but he insisted I made the time. So it was a really big deal to stop recording Who's Zoomin' Who? with Aretha to spend a day or two to cut "How Will I Know" in the middle of that. So I flew to New York to get Whitney's vocals and flew back to finish with Aretha. But I had so much love for Cissy Houston, and I knew that "How Will I Know" would be a smash.

Considering everything you were working on in 1985, it seems like there weren't enough hours in a day to get it all done. How did you manage the balance of that year?

I gotta give credit to my grandfather, who had such a high work ethic out in Kalamazoo. He was a custodian, and he cleaned all the buildings downtown. He would get up at three or four in the morning and clean up all these places before they even opened. Then I look at my spiritual guru Sri Chimoy. He would meditate at five in the morning and go out and run two hours at 7. And, of course, John McLaughlin, his work ethic was so high. It looked like it was a lot of work being in Mahavishnu Orchestra, and it was. But honestly, it was all done with delight, joy and a thrill. The fact we were even able to do those things, it was a big deal. Because it wasn't hard work for us. It was like flying.

Aretha Franklin's GRAMMY History: Remembering The Queen Of Soul

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Aretha Franklin in 1970

Aretha Franklin in 1970

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Artists Who've Amplified Social Justice Movements aretha-franklin-public-enemy-heres-how-artists-have-amplified-social-justice-movements

From Aretha Franklin To Public Enemy, Here's How Artists Have Amplified Social Justice Movements Through Music

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We also examine powerful protest songs from Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, James Brown and N.W.A
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jul 2, 2020 - 10:39 am

The year 2020, as difficult (and deadly) as its been for so many, has become a moment of reckoning. The nation is facing the shutdown and health crisis of coronavirus, pervasive acts of racist violence against unarmed Black people, and countless injustices for people of color, LGBTQI individuals and women and those within the intersectionality of these identifies. Today, in this climate of social unrest, powerful protest music of the past resonates once again.

As we stand in this pivotal moment, let's look back on some of the songs and moments that defined the civil rights movement and beyond, as Black artists and allies reflected the dire need for justice and inclusive representation, and protestors took their music to new heights.

Mahalia Jackson

Known as the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson is credited as one of the first artists to take gospel music out of the church. She used her powerful voice to record a massive catalog of religious music during her career, choosing to never dip her toes in secular music. Jackson befriended Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1956 National Baptist Convention and later performed before many of his speeches, in Selma, Montgomery and, most famously, immediately before his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, which she directly inspired.

She was the final musical guest during at the March, singing "How I Got Over," a powerful gospel song, popularized by the Famous Ward Sisters, about overcoming racial injustice. Not only did the song have deep resonance with the Black audience members, it was Jackson herself who moved King to improvise the most famous "dream" passage of his speech. According to King's adviser Clarence Jones, Jackson shouted out; "Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!" King pushed his notes to the side and Jones told the person next to him, "These people out there, they don't know it, but they're about ready to go to church."

Given its power, Jackson sang the song many times during her career, earning a GRAMMY for Best Soul Gospel Performance at the 1977 GRAMMYs for it.

Did You Know That Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Won A GRAMMY?

Aretha Franklin

18-time GRAMMY winner Aretha Franklin was one of the many successful soul and gospel singers inspired by Jackson and the path she paved, even performing at her funeral in 1972. The Queen of Soul got her start in music singing in her minister father's church. It was there where Franklin was introduced to civil rights activism. While many of her most beloved hits were covers, she had a unique power to reimagine a song all her own and resonate with so many. "Respect," originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1965, is one of these, which became her first No. 1 hit when she released it in 1967. A powerful anthem asking the listener for "a little respect," it became a protest song for both the feminist and civil rights movements of the time. As Pacific Standard states, "it captured a cultural moment Franklin had herself been fighting to achieve."

The outlet also notes that "Chain Of Fools," an original song, followed in 1967 as another feminist anthem, but found new meaning among Black U.S. soldiers fighting "a white man's war" in Vietnam. In 1972, Franklin recorded a rousing rendition of Nina Simone's 1969 civil rights anthem "Young, Gifted and Black," giving her album the same name, a powerful symbol of Black pride. That same year, Franklin later released live gospel album, Amazing Grace, including renditions of "How I Got Over" and "Amazing Grace." "Respect," "Chain Of Fools, "Young, Gifted and Black" and "Amazing Grace" all earned Franklin GRAMMY wins, evident of how deeply they resonated with America.

'Black Gold' At 50: How Nina Simone Refracted The Black Experience Through Reinterpreted Songs

Harry Belafonte

At 93, Jamaican-American actor, singer and activist Harry Belafonte has been a powerful force and barrier-breaker in U.S. culture since the '50s. Inspired by the emerging social justice-minded folk music of the turn of the century, he made it his life mission to "sing the song of anti-racism," as he said in 2017, to use his voice to highlight the music of the oppressed. Seeing Woody Guthrie perform lit this fire within the Harlem-born artist, inspiring him to visit the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to listen to Alan Lomax's field recordings.

His third album, 1956's Calypso, was led by one of his most beloved songs, "Banana Boat (Day-O)," a call-and-response Jamaican folk song sung by dock workers (he spent part of his childhood living with his grandmother there). His version took the U.S. by storm, hitting No. 5 and inspiring five other artists to cover it, who all earned Top 40 hits in 1957. The album, as its title suggests, was filled with upbeat calypso music, a genre with roots stemming from those enslaved by the 17th century Caribbean slave trade. At a time when Elvis Presley and other White rock artists ruled, Belafonte's Calypso outsold both of his records that year, spending thirty-one weeks on top of the Billboard 200.

Belafonte also became a pivotal member of the civil rights movement, as a close friend of King, performing at many of his events and offering financial support to fund voter-registration drives, Freedom Rides and even the March on Washington. "I was angry when I met [King]. Anger had helped protect me. Martin understood my anger and saw its value. But our cause showed me how to redirect it and to make it productive," Belafonte writes in his 2011 memoir.

Pete Seeger

"For Mr. Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action," the New York Times wrote in Pete Seeger's obituary in 2014. "His agenda paralleled the concerns of the American left: He sang for the labor movement in the '40s and '50s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the '60s, and for environmental and antiwar causes in the '70s and beyond."

In the '50s, the folk artist adapted "We Shall Overcome" with several other activist, including Zilphia Horton, who taught an updated version of the gospel spiritual "I'll Overcome" to union organizers. Seeger's version became an important rallying cry of the civil rights movement. Many other activist/artists of the time recorded and sang the powerful song at various events, including Jackson and folk acts Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez, the latter who sang it during the March on Washington.

Seeger always used his music to speak up on the big issues of the time; in 1941 he wrote "Talking Union" with members of The Almanac Singers (both acts recorded it), "an almost literal guide to union-building," as Time put it. During Vietnam and the Cold War, respectively, he released anti-war anthems "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (1967) and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" (1955). The latter has been covered many times over the years by Earth, Wind & Fire, Dolly Parton and more, with folk/pop act Kingston Trio's 1962 version first hitting the mainstream and reaching the Top 40.

Bob Dylan

"How many roads must a man walk down / Before you call him a man?" a 21-year-old Bob Dylan begins on his beloved 1963 song, "Blowin' In The Wind," another anthem of the civil rights movement. It is the opening track of his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which also features "The Death of Emmitt Till," "Oxford Town," "Masters of War" and other explicitly political songs examining injustices of the time.

Like Belafonte, he was inspired by Guthrie's political brand of folk, but it was his then-girlfriend, Suze Rotolo (pictured on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album cover), who moved him towards activism and playing political rallies. He wrote "The Death of Emmitt Till" in 1962, about the Black teen that was brutally murdered by White men for alleged whistling at a White woman, shortly before singing it at a fundraiser for the Congress of Racial Equality, which Rotolo was involved with.

During the March on Washington the next year, Dylan performed several songs, including "Only a Pawn in Their Game," which he had recently written about the civil rights activist Medgar Evers killed just months earlier. He also performed the heart-breaking song at a voter registration rally for Black farmers in Mississippi later that year. In January 1964 he would release the track on his next album, another socially conscious project, this one earning a GRAMMY nomination, The Times They Are A-Changin'.

Bob Dylan Announces New Double Album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways,' Releases New Single "False Prophet"

James Brown

In August 1968, a year before Simone released "Young, Gifted & Black" and just four months after King was assassinated, the Godfather of Soul James Brown delivered the funky Black pride anthem "Say It Loud – I'm Black And I'm Proud." As UDiscoverMusic notes, "The tone of the civil-rights movement had so far been one of a request for equality. Brown, however, came out defiant and proud: he isn't asking politely for acceptance; he's totally comfortable in his own skin. The song went to No. 10 on the Billboard [Hot 100] chart and set the blueprint for funk. Like later Stevie Wonder classics of the '70s, it was a political song that also burned up the dancefloor; an unapologetic stormer that would influence generations."

In 2018, on 50 years after the song's release, Randall Kennedy, a Black law professor at Harvard, explained the power of the song in that moment, and today: "It was precisely because of widespread colorism that James Brown's anthem 'Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud' posed a challenge, felt so exhilarating, and resonated so powerfully. It still does. Much has changed over the past half century. But, alas, the need to defend blackness against derision continues."

The iconic song recently saw a massive boost in streaming numbers as part of Spotify's Black Lives Matter playlist.

Black Pride Anthems From Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, 2Pac, James Brown & More See Big Streaming Spikes

N.W.A, Ice Cube & Dr. Dre

When N.W.A released "F*** Tha Police" in 1988, their hometown of Compton, in South Los Angeles, was rife with police brutality and racial profiling. One of the hardcore rap group's most controversial songs, it struck a chord with in their community, as well as with other Black people living in over-policed inner-cities around the country and frustrated youth of all colors. Directly denouncing the police's abuse of power, the song was largely condemned by the mainstream, causing the group to receive a cease-and-desist letter from FBI and to be arrested for playing it at a Detroit show in 1989, as shown in the Straight Outta Compton biopic.

"We had lyrics. That's what we used to combat all the forces that were pushing us from all angles: Whether it was money, gang-banging, crack, LAPD. Everything in the world came after this group," Ice Cube said in an interview. "We changed pop culture on all levels. Not just music. We changed it on TV. In movies. On radio. Everything. Everybody could be themselves. Before N.W.A … you had to pretend to be a good guy."

In 1992, Rodney King was brutally beaten by LAPD officers who were later acquitted, sparking the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. This not only highlighted the truth and urgency of N.W.A's lyrics, it further solidified it as a rallying cry against the daily violence and racism Black people across the country faced. That year, Ice Cube released his third solo album Predator, along with its biggest hit, the laidback "It Was A Good Day." As HuffPost notes, "he raps about how to cherish moments like chilling with your homies to enjoying your mom's food to NOT get harassed by the police." Dr. Dre followed with his 1debut solo album The Chronic in 1994, and on "Lil' Ghetto Boy" he and Snoop Dogg rap about the dark challenges faced by a formerly incarcerated Black man on parole, powerfully sampling Donny Hathaway's 1972 classic "Little Ghetto Boy."

"Fight The Power": 7 Facts Behind Public Enemy's Anthem | GRAMMY Hall Of Fame

Public Enemy

New York political hip-hop outfit Public Enemy originally recorded "Fight The Power" at the request of then-emerging filmmaker Spike Lee, for his 1989 film Do The Right Thing. It plays a prominent role in the poignant film that explores racial tensions in Brooklyn's Bedford-Sty neighborhood, as the only song character Radio Raheem plays from the boombox he proudly carries at all times. As HipHopDX writes, the song is "indisputably a call to action, [as] Chuck [D] commanded people to stand up against systematic oppression." "Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant sh*t to me you see / Straight up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain. / Mother f*** him and John Wayne / 'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud," Chuck D raps with authority, both calling out White heroes and nodding to a Black hero, the Godfather Of Soul.

The powerful track finds inspiration from both Brown and the Isley Brothers, who released a song called "Fight The Power" in 1975, it also takes direct influence from them. According to Genius, it features around 20 samples, including Brown's "Say It Loud" and "Funky President (People It's Bad)," and interpolates The Isley Brothers' song. "I wanted to have sorta the same theme as the original 'Fight the Power' by the Isley Brothers and fill it in with some kind of modernist views of what our surroundings were at that particular time," Chuck D explained. The music video (watch above) begins with news footage from the March on Washington, followed by Public Enemy organizing their own march and rally in Brooklyn.

The song was released on the film soundtrack and on their 1990 album, Fear Of A Black Planet, on which they also called out racism in Hollywood and in the police on "Burn Hollywood Burn" (featuring Cube and Big Daddy Kane) and "911 Is A Joke," respectively. This summer, Public Enemy returned with the fiery "State Of The Union (STFU)," calling out the rampant racism of the current White House administration.

How Black Trans Artists Are Fighting To Achieve Racial Justice & Amplify Queer Voices

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Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield

Photo: Gilles Petard/Redferns

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The Impressions' "People Get Ready" At 55 impressions-people-get-ready-55-how-curtis-mayfield-created-musical-balm-black-america

The Impressions' "People Get Ready" At 55: How Curtis Mayfield Created A Musical Balm For Black America

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The socially conscious soul great responded to a string of national atrocities with a peaceful redemption song
Morgan Enos
GRAMMYs
Jun 7, 2020 - 1:02 pm

In August 1963, a throng of roughly 250,000 Americans, nearly 80 percent of them Black, marched on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., advocating for racial harmony and demanding economic equality. One month later, Ku Klux Klan members killed four young Black girls in the infamous 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. Two years later, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Soon after, some 600 demonstrators marched across Alabama, from Selma to Montgomery, to demand equal voting rights for Black people, only to be met by plumes of tear gas from police and law-enforcement officers as white spectators watched and jeered on the sidelines.

All of these events happened nearly 60 years ago. Today, as thousands of demonstrators around the world take to the streets and social media to protest the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee and many other Black people at the hands of police, we'd be remiss to forget that America has been here before. But back in the days of Martin Luther King Jr., we had a multitude of musicians of color—John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and many others—who compassionately commented on society's convulsions. One of the tenderest, most talented among them was Curtis Mayfield.

The singer, songwriter and guitarist is best known for his solo career throughout the 1970s—namely, his GRAMMY-nominated soundtrack to Gordon Parks Jr.'s 1972 blaxploitation classic, Super Fly. But his signature song is "People Get Ready," his gossamer 1965 ode to deliverance written for his launchpad group, The Impressions. Featuring a gospel lilt and drawing themes from his upbringing in his grandmother's Traveling Soul Spiritualists' Church, the beatific ballad faces down recent American nightmares and offers not the sword in return, but a safe passage to paradise.

Mayfield joined The Impressions in 1957, back when they were called The Roosters, alongside vocalists Sam Gooden, Jerry Butler, who would be replaced by Fred Cash the following year, and brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks. The group knocked out a rapid series of hits like 1958's "For Your Precious Love," 1961's "Gypsy Woman" and 1963's "It's All Right." Despite their accolades, their Blackness meant trouble for the group while touring through the Deep South.

"Oh lord, it was rough," Cash said in Traveling Soul: The Life Of Curtis Mayfield, the 2016 biography from Mayfield's son, Todd Mayfield. "We were just scared to death a lot of times," Cash said, recalling the hassles the group experienced with soundpeople and the police. 

While staying in all-Black boarding houses, Curtis Mayfield often brooded alone and wrote while his bandmates went out celebrating. "I'd sit in my room and live through my own fantasies and write," he was quoted as saying in the book.

Despite the racism they faced, their hits were lucrative, especially the Mayfield-penned "It's All Right." "That song bought Sam's home, Curtis' home, and my home; we all bought homes off that song," Cash exclaimed in Traveling Soul. "By twenty-one, twenty-two years old, we all had our own homes and Cadillacs in the doggone garage." 

Some activists took the song's affirmative lyrics—"Hum a little soul, make life your goal / And surely something's got to come to you"—as something more profound: a call to empowerment. This came as a surprise to its writer.

"My father didn't mean it that way," Todd stated in Traveling Soul. "He wasn't quite mature enough as an artist." Still, Mayfield didn't fight this reading; the song's countercultural ripple effect, however minor, expanded his mind. That same year, Bob Dylan released "Blowin' In The Wind," while Sam Cooke put out "A Change Is Gonna Come" in response. Both songs, charged with personal and sociopolitical import, resonated with Mayfield and inspired him to dig deeper artistically.

"He was a big-picture thinker," Todd explained in Traveling Soul. "He wasn't the type to pick up a sign and start marching or get involved in the day-to-day machinations of the movement. Rather, he could observe it from a wide angle and use his poetic mind to craft something that spoke to peoples' souls."

In 1964, The Impressions took two more artistic steps in "Talking About My Baby," which featured a heavier gospel influence in its call-and-response, and "Keep On Pushing," Mayfield's first major statement as a topical songwriter: "A great big stone wall stands there ahead of me / But I've got my pride and I move the wall aside and keep on pushing / Hallelujah! Keep on pushing." (When an astonished Cash asked Mayfield how he wrote it, he simply responded, "I'm living.")

Soon after, Mayfield faced a quick series of extreme life changes: His brother Kirby died of an enlarged heart, he left his wife Helen and he moved into an opulent apartment on the second-highest floor of Chicago's Marina Towers. On December 11, 1964, a motel operator fatally shot his idol Sam Cooke in what was ruled a "justifiable homicide." The following February, Malcolm X's assassination shook him even further. These rattling events could have inspired a rattled response. Instead, Mayfield converted the turmoil into a tranquil hymn.

From its twinkling first seconds, "People Get Ready" casts a different type of spell than common doo-wop tracks: It joins The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes," George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" and Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" in the pantheon of songs that rapidly lower the blood pressure. It might be Zen if it weren't Christian to the core: Mayfield takes the readymade blues trope of a locomotive leaving the station and recasts it as a caravan to Zion. "There's a train a-comin'," he sings, "You don't need no baggage / You just get onboard."

For people of color struggling with anger, shock and sorrow, "People Get Ready" was a balm. "It was the same train that formed the Underground Railroad during slavery," Todd Mayfield wrote in Traveling Soul. "It was the movement train my father's generation boarded, determined to get to a better place or die trying."

"People Get Ready" launched to No. 14 on the U.S. pop charts and became deeply entwined with the civil rights movement. Chicago churches even began integrating it into their services, swapping the line "Don't need no ticket / You just thank the Lord" for "Everybody wants freedom / This I know." However it was tweaked, "I can remember [the song] just making people listen," Mayfield is quoted in his son's biography about the singer. "It was so different from what was looked upon as a hit."

The song comforted Black Americans across the nation. Major artists were listening, and paying attention, too. Bob Dylan, one of Mayfield's heroes, recorded "People Get Ready" during the sessions for 1975's The Basement Tapes, again as part of the 1975 rehearsals for his Rolling Thunder Revue tour, and a third time for the 1990 film, Flashback. Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and Alicia Keys all gave the song their own unique shades, to say nothing of Jeff Beck, The Doors and U2, who all performed it live at some point. In 1998, the first year of its eligibility, the song was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. (Mayfield himself received the GRAMMY Legend Award in 1994 and the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.)

With his reputation as a progressive artist cemented, Mayfield burned brightly throughout the 1970s on the strength of Super Fly as well as acclaimed solo albums like Curtis (1970), Roots (1971) and the live album Curtis In Chicago (1973). His commercial fortunes waned in the 1980s, and in 1990, he suffered a monumental setback when a freak lighting accident paralyzed him from the waist down. In 1999, he died at 57 due to complications from type 2 diabetes.

"People Get Ready" still hovers over all of Mayfield's myriad hits like a divine ball of caring energy. As the struggle for racial equality reaches its modern-day boiling point, the iconic song feels evermore like an extended hand, a reminder that the downtrodden are cared for, beckoning Black lives and allies to band together and climb aboard.

Want To Support Protesters And Black Lives Matter Groups? Here's How

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Shirley Caesar

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Shirley Caesar Honors Aretha Franklin With Gospel shirley-caesar-honors-aretha-franklin-through-gospel-music

Shirley Caesar Honors Aretha Franklin Through Gospel Music

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The singer performs "Mary, Don't You Weep" along with Yolanda Adams and BeBe Winans on "Aretha! A GRAMMY Celebration For The Queen Of Soul," airing on March 10
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Mar 6, 2019 - 1:05 pm

GRAMMY-winning gospel icon Shirley Caesar pays tribute to her longtime friend, the late Aretha Franklin, during the "Aretha! A GRAMMY Celebration For The Queen Of Soul" airing on March 10.

"Aretha was my friend, we traveled together when we were children, we sang together," she said. "I am so glad, I am so glad that everybody, that all of these different organizations, if you will, are remembering her because she was such a blessing."

Shirley Caesar Honors Aretha Franklin With Gospel

Caesar will pay tribute to the legend's gospel roots. "Aretha comes from a background of preachers and singers and so she could not help, but be the person that she was when it comes to gospel," she said.

The singer performs "Mary, Don't You Weep" along with Yolanda Adams and BeBe Winans. She told the Recording Academy backstage during the taping earlier this year: "I know I can't sing it like her, but I can Caesrize it, you know."

Tune in this weekend to see all the special moments celebrating the icon. "Aretha! A GRAMMY Celebration For The Queen Of Soul" will air on Sun., March 10 at 9 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. CT on CBS.

Sneak Peek: Patti LaBelle, John Legend, SZA, Alicia Keys, Common & More Celebrate Aretha Franklin

Press Photo of Jhené Aiko

Jhené Aiko

Photo: Justin Jackson /J3 Collection

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63rd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony Announced 63rd-grammy-awards-premiere-ceremony-lineup-2021-grammys

Participating Talent For 63rd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony Announced: Jhené Aiko, Burna Boy, Lido Pimienta, Poppy And More Confirmed

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Streaming live internationally Sunday, March 14, via GRAMMY.com, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will feature a number of performances by current GRAMMY nominees like Rufus Wainwright, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science and many others
GRAMMYs
Mar 2, 2021 - 7:00 am

The Recording Academy has announced details for the Premiere Ceremony ahead of the annual GRAMMY Awards telecast this month. 

Preceding the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will take place Sunday, March 14, at noon PT, and will be streamed live internationally via GRAMMY.com.

Hosted by current three-time GRAMMY nominee Jhené Aiko, the Premiere Ceremony will feature a number of performances by current GRAMMY nominees, including: Nigerian singer, songwriter and rapper Burna Boy, jazz band Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, blues musician Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, classical pianist Igor Levit, Latin electropop musician Lido Pimienta, singer, songwriter and performance artist Poppy, and singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright. 

Kicking off the event will be a tribute performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic Marvin Gaye track "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)". The special all-nominee ensemble performance will feature Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra, Thana Alexa, John Beasley, Camilo, Regina Carter, Alexandre Desplat, Bebel Gilberto, Lupita Infante, Sarah Jarosz, Mykal Kilgore, Ledisi, Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, PJ Morton, Gregory Porter, Grace Potter, säje, Gustavo Santaolalla (Bajofondo), Anoushka Shankar, and Kamasi Washington.

Current nominees Bill Burr, Chika, Infante and former Recording Academy Chair Jimmy Jam will present the first GRAMMY Awards of the day. Branden Chapman and Bill Freimuth are the producers on behalf of the Recording Academy, Greg Fera is executive producer and Cheche Alara will serve as music producer and musical director.

Music fans will be given unprecedented digital access to GRAMMY Awards content with GRAMMY Live, which will stream internationally on GRAMMY.com and via Facebook Live, the exclusive streaming partner of GRAMMY Live. GRAMMY Live takes viewers behind the scenes with backstage experiences, pre-show interviews and post-show highlights from Music's Biggest Night. GRAMMY Live will stream all day on Sunday, March 14, including during and after the GRAMMY Awards evening telecast. IBM, the Official AI & Cloud Partner of the Recording Academy, will host GRAMMY Live for the first time entirely on the IBM Cloud.

The 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast live following the Premiere Ceremony on CBS and Paramount+ from 8 p.m.–11:30 p.m. ET/5 p.m.–8:30 p.m. PT. For GRAMMY coverage, updates and breaking news, please visit the Recording Academy's social networks on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

All of the Premiere Ceremony performers and the host are nominated this year, as are most of the presenters. Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra for Best Latin Jazz Album (Tradiciones); Aiko for Album Of The Year (Chilombo), Best R&B Performance ("Lightning & Thunder" featuring John Legend) and Best Progressive R&B Album (Chilombo); Alexa for Best Jazz Vocal Album (Ona); Beasley with Somi With Frankfurt Radio Big Band for Best Jazz Vocal Album (Holy Room: Live At Alte Oper), Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album (MONK'estra Plays John Beasley), Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella ("Donna Lee") and Best Arrangement, Instrumentals and Vocals ("Asas Fechadas" with Maria Mendes); Burna Boy for Best Global Music Album (Twice As Tall); Burr for Best Comedy Album (Paper Tiger); Camilo for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album (Por Primera Vez); Carrington + Social Science for Best Jazz Instrumental Album (Waiting Game); Carter for Best Improvised Jazz Solo ("Pachamama"); Chika for Best New Artist; Desplat for Best Instrumental Composition ("Plumfield"); Gilberto for Best Global Music Album (Agora); Holmes for Best Traditional Blues Album (Cypress Grove); Infante for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano) (La Serenata); Jarosz for Best American Roots Song ("Hometown"), Best Americana Album (World On The Ground); Kilgore for Best Traditional R&B Performance ("Let Me Go"); Ledisi for Best Traditional R&B Performance ("Anything For You"); Levit for Best Classical Instrumental Solo (Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas); Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano) (Bailando Sones Y Huapangos Con Mariachi Sol De Mexico De Jose Hernandez); Morton for Best Gospel Album (Gospel According To PJ); Pimienta for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album (Miss Colombia); Poppy for Best Metal Performance ("BLOODMONEY"); Porter for Best R&B Album (All Rise); Potter for Best Rock Performance ("Daylight"), Best Rock Album (Daylight); säje for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals ("Desert Song"); Santaolalla with Bajofondo for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album (Aura); Shankar for Best Global Music Album (Love Letters); Wainwright for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Unfollow The Rules); and Washington for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Becoming).

2021 GRAMMYs Awards Show: Complete Nominees List

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.