Stevie Wonder visits ailing Aretha at home
Stevie Wonder has visited an ailing soul singer Aretha Franklin at her home in Detroit.
Franklin's publicist Gwendolyn Quinn told The Associated Press that the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Franklin's ex-husband, actor Glynn Turman, also visited the Queen of Soul, who is seriously ill.
A person close to Franklin said on Monday the singer is ill. No more details were provided.
Franklin cancelled planned concerts earlier this year after she was ordered by her doctor to stay off the road and rest up. The 76-year-old announced plans to retire last year, saying she would perform at "some select things".
Fans, friends and musicians influenced by Franklin offered positive words to the iconic singer when news broke that she was ill. They included Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tyler Perry, Missy Elliott and Wayne Brady.
At her concert in Detroit on Monday night with Jay-Z, Beyonce thanked Franklin for her "beautiful music" and said "we love you".
Former US president Bill Clinton tweeted that he and Hillary Clinton "are thinking about Aretha Franklin tonight & listening to her music that has been such an important part of our lives the last 50 years.
"We hope you'll lift her up by listening and sharing her songs that have meant the most to you," Clinton wrote.
Like people all around the world, Hillary and I are thinking about Aretha Franklin tonight & listening to her music that has been such an important part of our lives the last 50 years. We hope you’ll lift her up by listening and sharing her songs that have meant the most to you.
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) August 14, 2018
In an interview with the AP on Monday, Emmy-winning actor Sterling K. Brown said: "May I wish the Queen of Soul all the best.
"Your music has moved and inspired a generation," he added, "so my prayers are with you. Wishing you all the best, queen."
Actress and singer Mandy Moore, who stars in This Is Us with Brown, said Franklin has "the most incredible legacy".
"Who is not a fan? I don't think there is anyone that Aretha Franklin's music has not touched or influenced in one way or another," she said. "She's the best of the best."
My thoughts, my heart and my prayers are with Aretha Franklin, the greatest singer of all time, and all of her loved ones right now. ❤
— Patti LaBelle (@MsPattiPatti) August 14, 2018
This is one of my favorite Aretha Franklin stories...two hours before the Grammys telecast in 1998, Luciano Pavarotti cancelled due to illness. Aretha Franklin sang Nessun Dorma that night with little notice. pic.twitter.com/OroqA5CZ37
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 13, 2018
" Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening". - Aretha Franklin, thinking of you today. #Aretha pic.twitter.com/Quz1JLFmds
— Music Heals (@musicheals_ca) August 14, 2018
© PAA 2018