Sisters: Aretha, Emma & Carolyn Franklin

For centuries, we have had famous families, but not to my knowledge has anyone written about famous sisters and their younger female siblings. Perhaps this article will win the lesser famous sister to a whole new group of fans.

I can recall growing up in East Harlem where even in the 60's, Aretha was and remains the Queen of Soul. It seemed that every few months Ms. Franklin had a new single release. This was before CD's, so it was nothing to go to the local record store and purchase a 45 single. Before long the fans of Lady Soul knew that she had younger sisters, Emma and Carolyn.

Emma had a hit, called, "Piece of My Heart", this was before Janis Joplin recorded it. Perhaps if the times had been different, Emma would have had a crossover record, instead of this powerful song reaching to about number 9 on black radio. Back in the day, you had black radio and white radio. Aretha's light was so bright, that I believe the other Franklin sisters were never allowed to show what they were made of vocally. I would imagine that no matter how fierce the song, the music industry would market the younger sisters as Aretha Franklin's sisters. This could be a blessing or a curse, a kiss of death.

The baby sister, Carolyn and Emma were known to, sometimes, sing back-group and both younger sisters recorded albums of their own but nothing that could compare to Aretha. However, Carolyn was an excellent song writer as big sister, Ree, recorded some of her best work, "Ain't No Way", and "Angel", of which during the intro, Ms. Franklin immortalize baby sister by giving the listener a story of when she first heard this beautiful song, "I got a call the other day, my sister Carolyn said Aretha, come by when you can, I've got something, I want to say, and when I got there, she said you know instead of going through a long drawn out thing, I think the melody of the box will help me explain." Then the Queen starts to sing, "Gotta find me an angel…" This song speaks of loneliness and despair. Interesting even though Carolyn didn't have a top 10 hit on her own recordings, she was able to pen beautiful number one hits for her big sister. The wonderful thing about Ms. Aretha Franklin is that she employed her younger sisters as an older loving sister would. And in concert would introduce her sisters, her cousin and whoever was singing vocals. Many a time, Ms. Cissy Houston was right up there singing her heart out. Just like Aretha, Ms. Cissy is an original. (If you don't believe me, pick up her Private Records recordings).

Back to the sisters: All three sisters had gospel voices and each could sing lead when necessary, but its been reported that Aretha showed, at a young age, the real promise as she has always been a leader. Perhaps this is because she was the older sister. Perhaps this is why the younger sisters followed. Unfortunately for us, that we were robbed of them, we didn't get a chance to experience the raw singing and writing talent of Carolyn. Too bad that Emma would only have one hit in her recording career. On April 25, 1988, Carolyn died in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at the age of 44, from the cancer. Erma passed away from cancer, as well, in 2002.

Carolyn's and Erma's recordings, you may be able to purchase at www.soulmusic.com. This is David Nathan's music website. Tell David that John Frazier sent you.