Photojournalist Linda Solomon visits Pages Bookshop in Detroit with collection of intimate portraits of Aretha Franklin

Staff Pick

By Jerilyn Jordan

Nov 20, 2019 at 3:14 pm

Audio By Carbonatix

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Linda Solomon

Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones with Aretha Frankin.

Award-winning photojournalist Linda Solomon first encountered Aretha Franklin in 1983 while on assignment for her celebrity column in The Detroit News. The Queen of Soul had arrived to the local ABC affiliate studio in a black Cadillac limousine to perform on Kelly & Company, and Solomon approached her and asked if she could snap a photo. Franklin agreed. From that moment, Solomon became a part of the Franklin family, serving as the Queen’s photographer through some of the most exciting years of the singer’s life.

Solomon’s latest book, The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait, is a chronological journey through 2007 and picks back up in 2018 after Franklin’s death, and is punctuated by events in Franklin’s life, both big and small, where Franklin is often pictured with a cigarette between her fingers. Solomon’s photos reveal intimate moments during benefit concerts and award shows, backstage at concerts, rehearsals, family gatherings, and lavish parties, and quiet moments — like Franklin escaping the lavish party to listen to her Sade records in her bedroom. Solomon will share stories behind the photos featured in The Queen Next Door and what it was like documenting a legend.

Event begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, at Pages Bookshop; 19560 Grand River Ave., Detroit; 313-473-7342; pagesbkshop.com. Event is free and open to the public.

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