Aretha Franklin: I'm ready to do my thing

For 50 years, fans have thrilled to the sound of Aretha Franklin's voice ... and this past week they had particular reason to cheer. Anthony Mason talks with the Queen of Soul ... For The Record:

Six months after she abruptly cancelled all performances because of a mysterious illness, Aretha Franklin made her first concert appearance at a New York benefit this past week:

When asked backstage how she feels to be back, Franklin replied, "I'm excited. I'm excited. As James Brown used to say, 'I'm ready to do my thing.'"

She is strikingly slimmer - as Mason described her, "a leaner, meaner Aretha."

"Yes!" she laughed. "The queen of mean!"

Aretha says she's lost 85 pounds. But she has not lost her voice:

"My health is wonderful. It is fabulous now."

"People were worried about you," Mason said.

"Yeah, Iwas worried!"

What happened? A relative reportedly said she had pancreatic cancer. Her weight loss led to stories she'd had bariatric surgery. "Well, it wasn't that," Aretha said. "It wasn't that. It just wasn't."

What it was, Aretha isn't saying.

But Lady Soul has a history of mystery. She's always been guarded ... except when she sings.

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Web Bonus: Click here to stream MP3s and sample audio clips of classic and new Aretha Franklin tracks; also, a special discount for "Sunday Morning" viewers!
Photos: Aretha Franklin

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At 69, she remains one of the most influential performers in pop history. Rolling Stone magazine named her the greatest singer of the rock era.

When we visited her on Good Friday in her hometown of Detroit, Aretha took us to where it all started, the New Bethel Baptist Church. She showed us her spot:

"This is where I sit when I come to church. This is my seat," she said. "Don't sit in my seat!"

Her father, the charismatic Rev. C.L. Franklin, who was pastor here, would electrify audiences with his thunderous sermons. Then he'd call his daughter up to the pulpit:

"My dad had to push me to sing, though. I really didn't want to sing," Aretha said.

She was about ten years old, and had to stand on a little box. "Yeah, the pulpit was too high."

Ray Charles once said, "I don't know anybody who can sing like Aretha Franklin. Nobody, period."

We went back to the Franklin family home in West Detroit. She said in the day it was a showplace: "It was the most beautiful home I had ever seen."

When gospel greats like Mahalia Jackson or Clara Ward would visit the house, the young Aretha would watch from the top of the stairs:

"I would get up and peek down the steps to see who was coming in and who was going out," she said, "peeping through the railing of the staircase. So it was special, yeah, very special."

"Who did you like to see most of all?" Mason asked.

"Sam Cooke," she laughed. "Any time, Sam!"

The young gospel singer Sam Cooke was 11 years older than Aretha.

"Did Sam give you singing advice?" Mason asked.

"No, I saw Sam in other terms," Aretha said.

"Which means, what? You had a crush on him?"

"Yes, I had a serious crush on him. He had no idea though, that I had that kind of crush on him. My sister liked him. So I said, 'She likes him, so I just won't tell him.'"

In 1961, she toured with Cooke who had crossed over from gospel to become a pop idol:

"For a long time, I was like Sam's twin," she said. "Whatever he sung, I sung. However he sung it, I sung it. And my daddy told me to stop it.," Franklin said. "'Don't try to sing

like Sam - you sing like yourself.'"

When Cooke went mainstream, "did you think that he was sort of blazing a path as far as you were concerned?" Mason asked.

"Well, I followed. When I saw the success that he had, I thought it might be possible for me."

Aretha signed with a record deal and headed to New York. She also took modeling classes: "I was walking with a book on my head and all that sort of thing."

"And what were you thinking while you were doing that?" Mason asked.

"That this is not me!" she laughed. "That's what I was thinking. That this is not me. I don't like this book. And this is not me."

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[Harden_Tar]

Aretha Franklin introduced this California white boy to soul music in the 70's. She is without a doubt a national treasure. Aretha has more talent and has enjoyed more success than all the haters here will ever hope to have in their entire wretched little lives. Glad she is back.

[longtree-2009]

some of her music is good and some not so good. wonder what the mysterious illness was and why she put on so much weight over the years? music, however presented, and art are like beauty in that it's in the eye of the beholder. if it floats your boat, then well and good but if it doesn't that's okay too. live and let live.

[p94932]

voice from heaven period: amen!

[ReckonedTruth]

Ms. Franklin is this nation's treasure and NO other american artist has done what she has done for american music. She can sing opera in a foreign langage and she has performed many other types of music known in the free western world. She earned 18 Grammys, President Medal of Freedom -HONORED to her by President George H. Bush and she has EARNED a host of other world reknown awards which speaks volumes. It doesn't matter what the haters say-insidiously ignorant. Ms. Franklin's gift shared with the world is appreciated worldwide, its shameful how we as AMERICANS hate on our OWN based upon prejudice/ignorance. SHAME on you and you call yourshelf an american? NOT! Her voice sounds better than ever after her brief illness. Who God is for- NO MAN/WOMAN can STOP..so you ignorant haters need to go and kicks rocks.

[Ericwvb]

Aretha Franklin is a national treasure. I remember hearing a recording of her singing in church when she was just 16, it was amazing.

[ajk_cbsnews]

Well, she had lost her voice, before the illness - as evidenced by her croaking at the Obama Inauguration!

[ZungRee]

Wow she is without doubt one incredible woman. WOw.

www.totally-anon.at.tc