Aretha Franklin'sLast Portrait Ver. 2

Every time I photographed Aretha, she was only ever interested in hearing her own music. On the day that I shot this image, I was playing my favorite list of Aretha’s music and one of the songs caused her to pause and ask, “what album is this song on?” I remembered it right away because the first time I heard it was years earlier during a photo shoot with Quincy Jones. During the shoot, Quincy wanted to hear this song and I fell in love with it. The song was “In the Morning” on the A Rose is Still a Rose album and as the song played, everyone was lost in the song as Aretha’s voice echoed through the studio.

Aretha and I had been trying to coordinate another shoot in 2017, but unfortunately, due to her declining health, we were never able to make it happen. In 2018, however, we spoke on the phone more than ever before and each time she’d tell me “Jordan, as soon as I’m strong enough, we’ll shoot”.

We all miss Aretha and all that she’s done for us, but her spirit lives on through her music and art.