The newest: Stevie Wonder closes Franklin funeral with …

DETROIT (AP) – The newest at the funeral for soull legend Aretha Franklin (all times local):

18:45

Stevie Wonder wowed his harmonica skills and brought the remaining mourners to the long funeral of Aretha Franklin who stood up with a gripping version of As & # 39 ;.

The choir, the Franklin family, preachers and remaining guests waved while Wonder played the classic tune in honor of his old friend.

"The reason we are here today is love," Wonder said in remarks.

Before Wonder performed, Gladys Knight sang: "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water." When Franklin's coffin left the church, Jennifer Holliday & # 39; Climbing Higher Mountains & # 39; Others who performed during the eight-hour ceremony included Faith Hill, Fantasia Barrino, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande and Chaka Khan.

"God bless Aretha," Wonder said at the end of his song. "The joy is to know that she will have an eternal life of bliss."

___

17:15

Former NBA star Jesaja Thomas praised Aretha Franklin as someone who offered her advice and friendship and someone who 'moved the universe & # 39 ;.

He laughed that in the week since Franklin died, her music is sung everywhere, forcing people into restaurants to stop eating and dancing spontaneously.

Thomas remembers how, as a young man, Franklin's music calmed his mother when the family faced challenges and later smiled when the souctoon attended his Detroit Pistons games and sat with his mother.

Said Thomas: "She found a way to inspire us all with hope, love and dreams through her music. Her voice found a way to help calm this nation and deal with its troubled past."

___

4:40 PM

Record giant Clive Davis remembers Aretha Franklin as a woman with a hunger for knowledge, as a "true Renaissance woman" – and one with a line of perfectionism.

Davis, who has accompanied Franklin's music for decades, including later hits like "Who & # 39; s Zoomin & # 39; Who?" and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", said Franklin once dedicated to a project, she went into "Aretha Mode", and rehearsed and prepared so intensely that it was rare that she needed more than a few takes had in the studio.

Said Davis: "Aretha's voice will literally influence others in the coming centuries."

Davis remembered the time Franklin surprised him when he received a lifetime achievement award in New York by appearing on stage in a tutu.

"There was the Queen of Soul, accompanied by members of the City Center Ballet Company, doing well-rehearsed pirouettes and dancing with the most impressive agility and dignity.

___

15.55 hours

Rev. Jesse Jackson told Aretha Franklin that he had to sleep & # 39; and & # 39; I'll see you tomorrow morning & # 39;

Jackson, who has Parkinson's disease and is in the late 70s, spoke slowly while on Friday for the mourned mourners at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

He led them in a prayer of thanks for Aretha and her preacher-father, and asked God to make everything in the church "better, not bitter" by the time the day is over.

Jackson said: "Aretha is not lost, we know where she is."

He praised her for the funding she gave to the Eerw. Martin Luther King Jr. and for singing through tear gas during the civil rights battle.

He said, however, that it was a shame that the rows of mourning famous people were long, but the lines of voice were so short, regretting that President Donald Trump won Michigan with so few votes.

Jackson said that as someone who leaves the funeral and is not registered to vote "Aretha dishonors".

___

2.30 pm s & # 39; night.

Bill Clinton commemorates Aretha Franklin as a woman with "breathtaking talent" who, despite her illness, remained a charming audience.

The former president remembered that his entire life was an Aretha group & # 39; and that he liked to be behind her during her last public appearance, an advantage in Harlem for the AIDS organization of Elton John last year. She was "skinny" but went for 45 minutes.

"How are you darling?" she asked him.

"It's better with me now," Clinton replied.

The former president also asked the public to forgive him and said he was glad that Franklin's coffin was still open when he arrived because he just had to see what she was wearing.

Clinton said, "I wonder what my friend has today, I wanted to see what the girl was doing," to a wave of laughter and blows from the crowd. Franklin wore a golden dress, her fourth outfit of the week.

He ended his time playing Franklin's "Think" on his iPhone in the microphone. "It is the key to freedom!" Clinton said.

___

1:40 hours

The relatives of Aretha Franklin paid tribute to a woman who cooked for them, gossiped them and passed on her gifts to them.

Victory Franklin, a granddaughter, said at the funeral of the Queen of Soul that she will always cherish part of Franklin's legacy and recognize parts of her grandmother in her.

"Nothing sounded better than the voice of my grandmother," said Victorie. "Her voice brought peace."

Grandson Jordan sent his remarks directly to Aretha, often stopping to fight back the tears. "I am sad today because I am losing my friend, but I know that the stamp she has left on this world can never be removed, you have shown the world of God's love, and there is nothing honorable."

Aretha's son, Edward, sang "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" by Marvin Gaye.

___

1:10 am

Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush did not attend the funeral of Aretha Franklin, but sent messages to honor the queen of the soul.

Obama, in a statement read by the Venerable Al Sharpton, praised Franklin for reflecting "the best of the American story." Her music, he said, "caught some of our deepest human desires, affection and respect."

Bush's statement, read by Franklin friend Barbara Sampson, called Franklin "a performing woman with a deep character and a loving heart" who "made sustainable contributions to American music with her gospel-inspired style and distinctive voice."

Former President Bill Clinton was present and he will speak later.

___

12.40 hours

Ariana Grande and the Rev. Al Sharpton have commemorated Aretha Franklin in words and songs.

Sharpton remembered the activist side of Franklin and noted that she was raising money for Eerw. Martin Luther King Jr. and created "the soundtrack of the civil rights movement".

"She gave us pride and gave us a royal bar to reach," Sharpton said. "She represented the best in our community."

Sharpton also addressed President Donald Trump because he claimed Franklin was working for him. "She acted for you," he said. "She worked for us."

Earlier, Ariana Grande "(You Make Me Feel Like) sang A Natural Woman."

Bishop Charles H. Ellis said after the song that he felt old because when he saw "Ariana Grande on the program, I thought it was something new at Taco Bell", he said that he now owed her some respect.

___

12:15 o'clock

Faith Hill honored Aretha Franklin & # 39; What a friend we have in Jesus & # 39; to sing during the funeral of the Queen of Soul.

Hill's performance caused Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jess Jackson, and the Reverend Al Sharpton to stand up. Many in the audience of the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit were also when Hill delivered the hymn.

Detroit mayor Mike Duggan also took the stage to announce a proposal to rename the city of Chene Park on the waterfront after Franklin.

The mayor said: "When Aretha Franklin sang, it sounded like the voice of Detroit."

___

11:50 am

The body of Aretha Franklin is covered with shimmering dust and her chest is closed, with shouts of: "Hallelujah!" from the audience.

Relatives surrounded the golden coffin of the Queen of Soul when it was closed on Friday morning, marking the formal start of her funeral.

Rev. Jesse Jackson comforted actress Cicely Tyson and the relatives of Franklin comforted each other.

Bishop Charles H. Ellis of the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit began almost two hours after the ceremony began to speak.

The choir of the church sang "Walk in the Light" while Ellis encouraged the congregation to sing along.

Ellis said, "It took some time to come here, but I believe the queen would never have had it otherwise." He said that all attendees would receive a program and joked that they would probably be available on eBay soon.

___

11:15 am

The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is honored at the Buckingham Palace in London on the day of her funeral in Detroit.

The official residence of Queen Elizabeth II became an unlikely setting for a performance of Franklin's "Respect" played by the Welsh Guards Band during the popular Changing of the Guard ceremony on Friday.

Soul music can have shocked tourists expecting the British splendor and ceremony Friday of the Welsh Guards, which wore the traditional red military coats, crowned by high bears' hats.

The army tweeted that it wanted to pay tribute to a musical icon and inspiration & # 39 ;.

___

11 hours

The funeral of the Queen of Soul is under way.

A procession of the family of Aretha Franklin and other lovers fills the gangways of the Greater Grace Temple in her hometown of Detroit on Friday morning.

The choir of the church sang Franklin's "Say a Little Prayer" and its version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" when mourners arrived. When the family of the diva arrived, the song was & # 39; You are the source of my power & # 39 ;.

They sailed along and paid their respects at Franklin's open chest, where they saw that she wore a sparkling long gold dress with sequined heels – her fourth and last outfit of the week.

Many in the banks ignored repeated calls from no phones that had permission to take selfies with the former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton when they signed up.

___

10:40 am

Ariana Grande and her fiancée, Pete Davidson, walked arm-in-arm and chatted with dignitaries like Bill Clinton for the funeral for Aretha Franklin.

The singer, who was programmed to perform at the ceremony, and the cast member "Saturday Night Live" entered the Detroit Grace Greater Temple on Friday and posed for photo "s. They even shared a short kiss on the stage.

Others from the world of showbizz to be seen in the church were Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill, Tyler Perry and Jenifer Lewis.

The start of the service – meant to start at 10.00 am – was delayed. Franklin's white hearse arrived more than two hours before the service began.

___

10:15 am

In the moments before the funeral of Aretha Franklin, dignitaries filled Detroit's Greater Grace Temple.

Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Tyler Perry, Whoppi Goldberg, Stevie Wonder, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Faith Hill, T.D. Jakes, Jennifer Holliday, Jesse Jackson, Omarosa Manigault Newman, Rep. Maxine Waters, Detroit, mayor Mike Duggan were all spotted.

Floral arrangements by singers such as Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett and the Otis Redding family were set up in a corridor outside the sanctuary.

Other bouquets were sent from the Jackson family, the Harlem Dance Theater, the Whispers, Atlantic Records, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Ray Charles, Tom Joyner, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Don King and Diana Ross.

Franklin's white hearse arrived more than two hours before the service began.

___

8:45 a.m.

Aretha Franklin is dressed in a sparkling gold dress with long sleeves and sequined heels for her last outfit.

Mourners got a glimpse of the Queen of Soul for her funeral Friday during an open coffin that looked into the Greater Grace Temple. The golden dress is the fourth outfit that Franklin has worn during a week of events that led to her funeral.

Franklin was dressed in red for her first public viewing on Tuesday, a nod to her membership in the student club Delta Sigma Theta. She wore a baby blue dress and a rose gold dress for a Thursday at the church in Detroit, where her father was the old predecessor.

Numerous flower arrangements of celebrities such as Sam Moore, Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand and the family of Otis Redding were set up in a corridor outside the sanctuary.

Moore & # 39; s package contained a card with the text: "You know, I have always loved you and loved you to bits and pieces … Even when we were busy."

___

8 o'clock in the morning.

Aretha Franklin's body has arrived in a church in Detroit where her funeral is being held on Friday.

The white hearse of Franklin arrived more than two hours before the service would start at 10 a.m. in the morning.

Fans have been waiting outside the Greater Grace Temple for hours awaiting the occasion to attend the service, with performances by Stevie Wonder, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson and speeches by former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Smokey. Robinson.

Among those who honor Franklin Friday, about two dozen owners of Pink Cadillacs arrived on Friday at the church. The tribute is a nod to the funky & # 39; 80s tune & # 39; from Franklin, & # 39; Freeway of Love & # 39 ;, with which the car was prominently mentioned in the text and video.

___

12 o'clock

The organizers of the funeral of Aretha Franklin insist that it is a spirit-filled service and not a show. Yet it is undeniable that the star-force attends the last send-off of the Queen of Soul.

The speakers at Friday's funeral at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple are former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Smokey Robinson. Singers are Steve Wonder, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill and Chaka Khan.

Greater Grace's bishop Charles Ellis III says he wants everyone – even the famous – to be spiritually awakened & # 39; leaves.

Nevertheless, the get-down and the cancellation certainly coexist.

Another artist, gospel artist Marvin Sapp, expects "an eye-opening experience". He adds that the "dear deceased" wants a party to mark their transition "from this life to a better life".

Franklin died of pancreatic cancer on August 16 at 76.