Queen Of Soul Says She’s In Control On New Album

First Published: February 26, 2010 6:05 PM EST Credit: AP

DETROIT, Mich. -- Caption Aretha Franklin takes the stage at Radio City Music Hall The Queen of Soul says she’s taking control of her newest collection.

Aretha Franklin offered a preview Friday of several songs from her forthcoming album, “Aretha: A Woman Falling out of Love,” in a downtown Detroit restaurant. She wrote and produced a few of the songs and is executive producer of the album that’s expected to be released in late March.

She says the collection of a dozen songs was inspired by a relationship she was in a few years ago, which “before you know it it became Aretha, a woman falling out of love.”

She held court at a “high tea listening party” for family, friends, reporters and local dignitaries. One track planned for the album features a recitation by actor Billy Dee Williams that she says is “sizz-LING.”

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