Queen Of Soul Fractures Toe

Aretha Franklin performed Thursday at the home of a Dallas “oil baron” and was packing her clothing later in a hotel room when she stepped on the shoe, causing the heel to “wrap” around the toe, spokeswoman Tracey Jordan told The Associated Press Tuesday.

“She went to sleep and in the morning it was still hurting and throbbing,” Jordan said.

But Franklin had to hit the road for a performance Saturday in Greenwich, Conn.

“They were driving up Friday and it started really hurting so they made a pit stop,” Jordan said.

X-rays taken at an Indianapolis hospital revealed the fracture.

“She said ‘Thank God it wasn’t my pedal foot for the piano!’“ Jordan said.

The Grammy-winning songstress plays the piano during her performances, using her right foot on the instrument’s pedals.

Wearing a blue, plastic hospital boot – with a wooden sole, Franklin performed Saturday in Greenwich.

“She wears a designer shoe on the other foot,” Jordan said. “She’s standing and dancing. She’s wearing gowns and you can’t really see her feet until she sits at the piano.”

Franklin likely will wear the boot for a few more weeks and remove it “as soon as the doctor tells her,” Jordan said.

She often receives requests to perform at private parties, said Jordan, who declined to release the name of the Dallas man.

“This was a very touching party,” she said. “The oil baron … his wife passed away a year ago. Her favorite singer was Aretha Franklin. He had a party to celebrate her life.”

The 69-year-old music legend underwent surgery in early December in Detroit for an undisclosed ailment. Since then, she lost more than 80 pounds, which Franklin attributed to a change in diet and exercise.

Her latest CD, Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, was released in April and Franklin is scheduled to play DTE Energy Music Theatre on Aug. 25. It’s in Clarkston, north of her native Detroit.

Franklin also is scheduled to perform this summer at the Toronto Jazz Festival and at Jones Beach Theatre in New York, Jordan said.