Political Quotes

“I rise to pay tribute to a woman whose voice and whose soul truly was larger than life. Aretha Franklin was known, first and foremost, as a singer, and what a singer she was. For so many of us, her voice provided a soundtrack to the highs and lows of our lives. A couple of things happened on April 29, 1967. For one, it was my 17th birthday. For another, that was the day Aretha Franklin released ``Respect.'' Let me tell you, that song felt like a gift that day, and it has felt like a gift every time I have heard it ever since. Her voice really was a gift, not just to me but to the whole world. She won 18 Grammys, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, was the 1994 Kennedy Center Honors awardee, and was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A panel of music experts convened by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008 named her the greatest singer of all time--not bad for a preacher's daughter from Detroit. All those awards are important; however, they don't begin to measure how she made us feel. I will never forget the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, which saluted my friend and singer-songwriter Carole King. Aretha strolled onstage in her jewels and her furs, and she was pure magic. Her soulful rendition of ``Natural Woman'' made Carole King dance in her seat, and she made President Obama tear up.…”