I was aware that she was ill, but still teared up all the same when I heard of her passing.
Interesting story, at least as I heard it: Luciano Pavarotti was to sing Nessun Dorma at the 1998 Grammys, but pulled out with throat trouble a few hours beforehand. So they called up Aretha, who had sung it several weeks earlier at another venue. She had no time at all to rehearse, only to take one look at the video of the Pavarotti's rehearsal. She told the conductor to use the score they had, as there was no time to change it, and that she would sing in Pavarotti's key. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqECvv7ecPkShe brought Gospel to Soul and Soul to the world. There will never be another Aretha Franklin.
