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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Orange Park native recalls ‘The Queen of Soul’

By Eric Cravey
Posted 8/22/18

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Orange Park native recalls ‘The Queen of Soul’


Posted

ORANGE PARK – In his 40-plus year career in professional music, Tony Steve has stood on the shoulders of giants and legends.

However, no one comes to mind out as much lately for him as does The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin who died Aug. 16 at her Detroit home. In the 2001-02 season, Steve had the rare opportunity to play in Franklin’s percussion section for a show she performed at Jacksonville’s Florida Theatre.

“It was pretty amazing,” said Steve who began playing drums at the old Orange Park Middle School and was later in band at Orange Park High. He would go on to major in music performance at Jacksonville University, get a master’s degree in the same field at Ithaca College in New York and work on a doctorate in music performance at Florida State University.

“She was special. She had a thing that you can’t explain,” said Steve, who got the gig through a contractor that places professional artists around the country.

Franklin died of advanced neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer and had been under hospice care before passing. The winner of 18 Grammy Awards, in 1987, Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She performed at two presidential inaugurations and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, considered the nation’s highest honor. Rolling Stone magazine called her “the greatest singer of the rock era” in a November 2008 article.

Steve, who has also filled in for such legends as Johnny Mathis, Frankie Vallie, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, described Franklin as the conductor when she was on stage. He has also played percussion as a substitute for the touring casts of such shows as “Wicked” and the Carole King musical memoir, “Beautiful.”

“When she came into the room, she knew everything everybody was doing, so when one of her backup singers – if they were out of tune – she’d start singing the part for them. She was a taskmaster in that respect. I could tell they were happy to be singing backup for her, but they knew that they were [there to do a job],” he said.

Steve, in his 16th year of serving as the Artist-in-Residence at Jacksonville University where he teaches percussion and contemporary and world music, said Franklin is one of “the greats” who seem to be leaving the landscape with each passing. Not only did Franklin open doors for female African-American women, she helped usher in much-needed social change during the civil-rights movement in her 57-year career that began in her pastor father’s church in Detroit.

“If I had to sum it up, she’s the perfect moment of synchronization, whereas, you’ve got church and you’ve got pop [music] and it came together and she was that female that made that change and she stepped over that line and every female artist who does that genre owes that to her,” Steve said.

“She opened that door and she didn’t shut it behind her either, which is what a real artist does, they leave the door open hoping somebody comes behind you and uses you as a launching point.”

And like Steve, Franklin stood on the shoulders of others in music as well. She was influenced by many who came before her, including blues and jazz legends Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn. Male artists who also helped shape Franklin’s signature sound include, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke.

“She opened the door for more African-American women to really get out there and not just be part of the label or the backup singer,” Steve said.

And like the backup singers who were there that night at the Florida Theatre performance, Steve knew he was there to do a job and do it right. At the same time, however, he realized he was only a few feet away from greatness, an artist who brought a true human element to the world of music.

“When you lose a voice like that, that voice can be used and sampled and that’s nice, but it’s not the same as when it comes out,” he said. “I think you lose an enormous vibration in the communal consciousness in what we do as artists.”

Steve describes his career in music as having been the luckiest man in the world. He also said there is no way another artist will come close to the level of Franklin’s talent.

“She was a game changer for everything. You can’t replace a voice like hers, I just don’t think it’s possible,” he said.