The Tonight Show on Thursday paid its respects to the late Aretha Franklin with a little help from Ariana Grande. The pop star joined house band The Roots for a special rendition of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”
The performance was followed by an interview with host Jimmy Fallon, where Grande recalled meeting Franklin at the White House and later receiving a very special phone call from the Queen of Soul herself:
Over on The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert reminisced about watching Franklin perform at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. “The world is poorer for her not being here,” he said. “There is no Queen of Soul right now and she can never be replaced.”
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah recalled singing along to Franklin’s greatest hits with his mother. He also discussed Franklin’s contributions to the Civil Rights movement:
Over on Jimmy Kimmel Live, guest Don Cheadle revealed that he, too, received a phone call from Franklin, who reached out to tell him how much she enjoyed his performance in the 2015 Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead.
As previously reported, Franklin died of pancreatic cancer on Thursday at the age of 76. In a statement to our sister site Variety, Franklin’s publicist Gwendolyn Quinn said, “In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart… We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”
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