Aretha Franklin pays tribute to Whitney Houston at Essence Music Festival

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin capped off the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans with a soul stirring performance. According to reports ReRe drove for 2 days to get to Essence (the diva is afraid to fly) and had the audience in awe. She stepped onto the stage after the opening performances by Kirk Franklin and Fantasia. I heard Fantasia's performance was "emotional but good". Hope somebody got video of that. The highlight of Aretha's performance was her tribute to the late Whitney Houston. The legendary singer sang "I Will Always Love You" as she played the piano. I had no idea Miss Franklin played any instruments, that women never ceases to amaze me.

After her performance, a few R&B divas took the stage to perform tributes to some dearly departed icons. Syleena Johnson performed "At Last" for Etta James, KeKe Wyatt sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" for Whitney, and Faith Evans performed "Reach and Touch Somebody's Hand" for Nick Ashford. The tributes were followed by a performance from Chaka Khan to close off the festival.

I will not miss Essence next year! I am there will bells on.