About the Show

The Queen of Soul: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin

Damien Sneed, the multi-genre composer, bandleader, musician and vocalist, presents A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul. This dynamic presentation celebrating the amazing musical legacy of the late Ms. Franklin, arranged and musically directed by Sneed, features an accomplished cast of jazz, gospel, and soul musicians and vocalists. The North American tour kicked off Thursday, February 3, 2022, at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and concludes on Sunday, March 20, 2022, at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College in Flushing, NY.

The production features Sneed on piano and vocals, along with very special guest Karen Clark Sheard: four-time Grammy and multiple Stellar and Dove Award-winning gospel vocalist and songwriter. Sneed has previously served as musical director for Sheard, who is thrilled to join him in this tribute.

With a career spanning several generations and a multitude of genres, Aretha Franklin earned her title, “The Queen of Soul.” Beloved by musicians and listeners alike, Aretha is recognized as one the most successful female recording artists in history. Aretha Franklin continued to perform well into the later years of her illustrious life. During this time, musician, vocalist, and composer Damien Sneed toured with Ms. Franklin, developing a strong mentee relationship with the soul legend. In The Queen of Soul, Sneed pays homage to the monarch herself with fresh renditions of her most cherished hits, including “How I Got Over,” “Respect,” “Say A Little Prayer,” and others.

Aretha Franklin was a giant of popular music and a global cultural icon. One of the bestselling musical artists of all time, with more than 75 million records sold worldwide, the undisputed “Queen of Soul” created an amazing legacy of more than six decades. She had sung before heads of state and foreign royals and gained admiration from fans, colleagues, and fellow artists across all genres. She is known all over the world simply by her first name: Aretha.

Her vocal mastery and artistic excellence have been recognized numerous times throughout her distinguished career. Twice voted as the number one Greatest Singer of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, and her signature hit “Respect” was also named by Rolling Stone as the number one Song of All Time. Franklin is the recipient of the U.S.A.’s highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom; she is also an 18-time Grammy Award winner and a recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement and a Grammy Living Legend honor. Aretha was the youngest individual ever to receive the coveted Kennedy Center Honor; the first female inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; the second female inductee into the US Music Hall of Fame; and an inductee into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, Franklin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation Prize for her contribution to American music and culture. That same year, Franklin’s family was posthumously presented with The Aretha Franklin ICON Award by the Stellar Gospel Music Award, which is now awarded annually to a Gospel music legend.

Aretha has been proclaimed internationally as “the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of Black America,” and a “symbol of Black equality.” In 1968, her spiritually uplifting voice was heard around the world singing at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1972 at the funeral of the Queen of Gospel Mahalia Jackson. Aretha’s acclaimed voice was declared a “natural resource of the state” in 1985 by the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Michigan. Aretha would later reach a milestone in her historic career by singing at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama.

“The tour was inspired just by thinking of something that I could do to honor the Queen of Soul, who was a great musician, a great singer, and a true icon,” says Sneed, who played with Franklin during her final performance at Elton John’s AIDS Foundation fundraising gala on November 7, 2017, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Sneed recalls some of her best advice, including “not to be discouraged by the things that I may be going through because there’s always someone going through more.” Sneed adds that as a creative artist, Franklin was “one of a kind, a monogene.”

Also joining Sneed on tour will be featured vocalists Chenee Campbell, Markita Knight, Anitra Raquel McKinney, and Alicia Peters- Jordan, all of whom have performed with Sneed in numerous tours. The band will feature Alfred Rutherford on Hammond B3 organ and keys, Ronald “CJay” Alexander on bass guitar, Nathaniel “Nat” Townsley on drums, and Gabriel Michael Carter on aux keys.

Sneed’s stage tribute to the Queen of Soul comes on the heels of his January 2022 tour, presenting Our Song, Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices, highlighting some of the world’s most well-known operatic arias, art songs, and spirituals. The concert tour featured Raehann Bryce-Davis and Brandie Inez Sutton, two of today’s most exciting operatic talents, accompanied by a string quartet and Damien Sneed on piano. Most recently, Sneed was commissioned by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater to create an original score for Testament, a contemporary response to the 60 th Anniversary of Revelations, for the dance company’s first virtual season, which premiered December 17, 2020. He was also recently commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose a chamber opera, The Tongue & The Lash, with libretto by Karen Chilton, imagining a post-debate conversation between James Baldwin and William Buckley which premiered on June 10, 2021.

CAST & MUSICIANS

Damien Sneed, vocals, piano, keys

Karen Clark Sheard, guest vocalist

Chenee Campbell, vocals

Markita Knight, vocals

Anitra McKinney, vocals

Alicia Peters-Jordan, vocals

Alfred Rutherford, Hammond B3, keys, extra vocals

Gabriel Michael Carter, aux keys

Ronald "CJ" Alexander, bass guitar

Nathaniel Townsley, drums