DETROIT – Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) introduced legislation Friday renaming the post office located at 12711 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit after the late national recording artist and Detroiter Aretha Franklin.
Signed by every member of the Michigan Congressional Delegation, the official name of the post office would become the Aretha Franklin Post Office Building.
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“It is my pleasure to honor this mega talent and my good friend Aretha Franklin in this manner,” said Lawrence. “After renaming Chene Park to the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater, I felt additional accolades were necessary on the federal level to extend her legacy. This is the contribution from all of us in the Michigan Delegation to that legacy.”
Franklin moved to Detroit from Memphis, Tennessee, with her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin. Her father became the minister at Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church, where Franklin began singing on Sunday mornings.
At the age of 17, Franklin moved to New York to pursue a singing career that netted her 20 No. 1 hits, more than 20 Grammy Awards and resulted in her being the first women inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. She sang for three U.S. presidents -- Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama -- and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005.
“We just cannot thank her enough for sharing that amazing voice and artistry with us all. Once again thank you, to the beautiful ‘Queen of Soul’,” said the Congresswoman.