Queen Of Soul Takes Control

Aretha Franklin offered a preview Friday of several songs from her forthcoming album, “Aretha: A Woman Falling out of Love,” in a downtown Detroit restaurant. She wrote and produced a few of the songs and is executive producer of the album that’s expected to be released in late March.

She says the collection of a dozen songs was inspired by a relationship she was in a few years ago, which “before you know it it became Aretha, a woman falling out of love.”

Photo: AP Photo
During a preview of her forthcoming album, Aretha: A Woman Falling out of Love, in a downtown Detroit restaurant.

She held court at a “high tea listening party” for family, friends, reporters and local dignitaries. One track planned for the album features a recitation by actor Billy Dee Williams that she says is “sizz-LING.”