'We are happy for her to be in heaven with God': Narada Michael Walden remembers Aretha Franklin

Something that can't be stressed enough about Aretha Franklin's legacy is the sheer breadth of music that she released over her career. Starting in the late '50s and continuing thereafter, the Queen of Soul released 131 singles, 42 studio albums and won countless awards, including 18 Grammys.

Franklin died Thursday morning at her home in Detroit at age 76, and tributes to the singer have been flooding in from around the world. 

• q | Remembering Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul
• q | 'So much love, respect and gratitude': Tributes flood in for Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul​

After receiving the call early this morning from Franklin's family, longtime friend and collaborator, Narada Michael Walden told q that those closest to the late singer are celebrating her life right now. 

"She rocked us, and partied with us, and gave us everything she had for so long that we are happy for her to be in heaven with God. We are happy for her and we are celebrating her life right now. I have mixed emotions. I'm sad on one side, but on the other side I'm just celebrating her beautiful legacy of life, and that she can just rest, because she was in pain."

Today, Walden is most famously known for his string of massive pop hits for Whitney Houston and Jefferson Starship, but back in 1985, he was a rookie music producer responsible for working on Franklin's biggest selling album to date: Who's Zoomin' Who.

Released in the summer of 1985, the platinum-selling album came at a really important time in the singer's life. It marked Franklin's return to music after the tragic loss of her father two years earlier.

Walden still remembers talking to Franklin on the phone for the first time, and how that conversation led them to come up with the title of her comeback album.

"I ask her on the phone, 'So what do you do for fun?'" said Walden. "And she said, 'Well, maybe I go out to the nightclub at night. Maybe I see somebody in the corner who looks kind of nice. He looks at me, I look at him, it's like: who's zoomin' who?'"

"I felt the joy of it," continued Walden. "I felt the joy and the delight of it. Yes, you could say there's a pressure. … But then once the music comes on, then that kind of nullifies everything. … Then we were the best friends forever and ever and ever. But at first, when you first look at her, yes, it's very daunting because she's like a walking institution."

[She knew] how to touch the human heart, and the psyche, and the soul of a man and a woman, and just make them feel something that maybe they haven't felt before.-  Narada Michael Walden

Walden has worked with many divas, including Mariah Carey and Diana Ross, but according to him, Franklin had a special gift that separated her voice from all the other great singers of our time.

"She had the code. [She knew] how to touch the human heart, and the psyche, and the soul of a man and a woman, and just make them feel something that maybe they haven't felt before. That was she was genius at doing with her vocal prowess and vocal skills. ... That's why we all kind of back up and bow down to her."

"She just gave 100 per cent — infinite per cent. That's what we have to know about Aretha Franklin," said Walden. "She gave infinite per cent."

Listen to the full segment near the top of this page. 

Written by Vivian Rashotte. Interview with Narada Michael Walden produced by Tyrone Callender.

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