American Idol. “I was really close to my grandma,” she said in an introduction clip of herself. “I got to see her all the time.
I used to travel with her a lot.” She added, “I feel like people expect me to sing exactly like her, but I’m my own artist and I have my own voice.” She took the stage in front of Lionel Richie, a past collaborator of Aretha’s, singer Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.
She initially didn’t perform any of her grandmother’s classics, instead, opting to try the Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly.” When asked to sing something else that could better showcase her voice, Grace then took on Aretha’s “Ain’t No Way.” You can see how both performances turned out and where the judges disagreed (in a dramatic way) regarding her abilities at her young age.Grace is the daughter of Aretha’s son, Kecalf Cunningham Franklin, her youngest child from her relationship with road manager Ken Cunningham.
Overall, the queen of soul had four sons, including son Clarence, Edward, Ted White Jr., or Teddy (who played guitar for his mother on tour), and Kecalf, of course.
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