Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin began singing gospel at her father church in Detroit at age 10. She signed with Columbia Records at 18 and later moved to Atlantic for her soul sound.

Floating Player

The Cover -- 1994

Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross was a songwriter and producer for Diana Ross and Whitney Houston. He wrote Endless Love and produced Whitney debut album before his solo career.

Floating Player

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1,414 artist portraits across 5 genres (Rock, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Folk). 1,363 sourced from Wikipedia (Creative Commons / Public Domain), 50 from Deezer (promotional artwork).

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Who Did It Better

Chain of Fools

Written by Don Covay

For five long years I thought you were my man
But I found out, I'm just a link in your chain

This song is about...

"Chain of Fools" maps the architecture of a relationship built on bad faith. Aretha Franklin recorded it in 1967 as a song about a woman who knows she is being used and has decided to stay anyway. She is not blind to the situation. She sees the chain. She knows she is one link among many. The specific humiliation of knowing your value and accepting less anyway. Chain, chain, chain -- the repetition mimics the feeling of being trapped in a pattern you can see but cannot break.

Aretha or Luther

Aretha Franklin

1967

Aretha Franklin began singing gospel at her father church in Detroit at age 10. She signed with Columbia Records at 18 and later moved to Atlantic for her soul sound.

Luther Vandross

1994

Luther Vandross was a songwriter and producer for Diana Ross and Whitney Houston. He wrote Endless Love and produced Whitney debut album before his solo career.

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