DETROIT—Aretha Franklin’s funeral began Friday with tributes, prayers and songs, as pink Cadillacs filled the street outside a Detroit church where the guests included former the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson.
Robinson, the Motown great, remembered first hearing her play piano when he was just 8 and remaining close to Franklin for the rest of her life, talking for hours at a time. “You’re so special,” he said, before crooning a few lines from his song “Really Gonna Miss You.”
