MEMPHIS, Tenn. – It’s been decades since Aretha Franklin lived on Lucy Avenue, but even in death, Franklin’s fans are still singing her songs.
Outside the home where she was born, a smattering of people sang and danced to some of the Queen of Soul’s greatest hits Friday evening.
“I love Aretha. I love her music. I grew up on her music,” proclaimed one woman.
Darryl Tate said he watched Franklin’s Detroit funeral online throughout the day, but wanted to cap things off by paying his tributes in person.
“I just wanted to come out and mingle with the folks that paying tribute to Aretha. I couldn’t go to Detroit but I certainly could come here,” Tate said.
Jerry House even shares something in common with the music icon: They both spent their early years in the now-boarded up South Memphis house.
“I didn’t know about Aretha until I got a little older and ‘til people started knocking on the door, you know, ‘Where Aretha at?’” House said.
But House’s gradual discovery of Franklin’s music ended with him becoming one of her biggest fans.
“She got a whole lot of songs that really didn’t even know about and I kind some of her songs. I like a lot of her songs that I hear recently,” he said.
Anyone walking down Lucy Avenue Friday, heard almost all of them.