US new sources are reporting that the Queen of Soul ARETHA FRANKLIN is “gravely ill”. The 76-year-old Aretha is believed to be surrounded by her closest family and friends at her bedside in Detroit.
Detroit TV Channel 4 news anchor Evrod Cassimy said this morning in a tweet: “I spoke with her family members this morning. She is asking for your prayers at this time.” Earlier a family friend Roger Friedman confirmed that Aretha was seriously ill.
In March the singer cancelled two concerts scheduled in New Jersey. Her most recent performance was Nov. 2, 2017 at the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York and her final public performance was at Philadelphia’s Mann Centre in August 2017.
Aretha last performed in her native Detroit in June 2017. She ended the performance with a then-cryptic appeal to the hometown crowd: “Please keep me in your prayers.”
