*About a week or so ago we told you about the beef between Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick that seemed to come from out of nowhere.
As we reported, Franklin told the Associated Press that Warwick “blatantly lied on me . . . fully well knowing what she was doing.” Franklin was referring to a perceived slight that happened five years ago at the funeral of singer Whitney Houston. It was there that Warwick told the crowd of mourners, “[Aretha’s] not here, but she is here. She loves Whitney as if she was born to her. She is her godmother.”
To most folks Warwick’s words didn’t convey any malice, but obviously the Queen of Soul didn’t see it that way. She took it as an insult.
“We’ve never been friends,” Franklin also told the AP, “and I don’t think that Dionne has ever liked me.”
Well, we’ve come to find out, according to Page Six, that this most recent tiff was just the latest salvo in a feud that dates back five decades and has included plenty of sly digs and back-stabbing. However, it’s largely one-sided.
“A great deal of what is taking place is just jealousy” on Franklin’s part, according to a longtime music-industry figure who knows both artists. “It’s all about Aretha.”
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The rivalry started in the 1960s, when both singers were enjoying initial successes on the Billboard charts. Franklin, the piano-playing powerhouse, was part of the R&B revolution, anchoring such gritty, sexy classics as “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)” and “Chain of Fools.” Warwick shined as the muse of pop-songwriting giant Burt Bacharach, delivering delicate hits “Walk On By” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
According to people close to the matter, Franklin decided to let Warwick know just who was the alpha queen by covering Warwick’s 1967 hit “I Say a Little Prayer.” For an extra little dig, her backup singers included Cissy Houston, Warwick’s own aunt. The rollickingly soulful revamp, released a year after Warwick’s feathery take, became a top-10 smash on the pop and R&B charts.
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Things got even more interesting when Bacharach — who had written “I Say a Little Prayer” for Warwick — said publicly that Franklin’s version was “Much better than the cut I did with Dionne.”
But Warwick is far from the only female vocalist to be snubbed by Franklin. The Queen of Soul has had alleged run-ins with Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole and Gladys Knight — who said Franklin once ignored her backstage at the Grammys, walking past Knight as if she didn’t exist.
“Aretha’s always had problems with her female contemporaries,” her sister Erma Franklin told David Ritz, author of “Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,” a 2014 biography. “Her fantasy is to eliminate the competition.”
Page Six spoke to Warwick’s spokesperson, Angelo Ellerbee, who says the beef is one-sided:
“Dionne has always spoken favorably about this lady.”
Once again the tale of Franklin and Warwick got more interesting. You see, by the late ’70s, Franklin was no longer a hit making machine. That’s where music man/mogul Clive Davis enters the scene. He signed Franklin in 1982 and in 1985 her comeback was in full effect because of Davis’ work in crafting her platinum album, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Right here is where you gotta PUMP THA BRAKES! That’s because Aretha Franklin’s arch frenemy, Dionne Warwick, was also on Arista.
OH crap! There’s lots more to the story and you can get the rest at Page Six.
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