Aretha Franklin Ends Three-Week Engagement

Tweet

Comment

Aretha Franklin and Willie Wilkerson attend the BET Honors Pre-Honors dinner at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Aretha Franklin has called off her engagement to William "Willie" Wickerson only three weeks after announcing their plans to wed. "Will and I have decided we were moving a little too fast, and there were a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly," Franklin told Us Weekly in a statement. "There will be no wedding at this time."

The Queen of Soul, 69, had previously announced elaborate plans to marry Wickerson in Miami Beach this summer, with a reception aboard a private yacht. "We will not comment on it any further because of the very personal and sensitive nature of it. We appreciate all of the many well wishes from friends," Franklin and Wickerson added in their statement.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
• 
  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter