I talk a lot about music when I’m writing these articles. New bands, local bands, concerts — but all of that exists because of famous singers and songwriters who had a major impact on the music community. 

Indiana Musical Theatre Foundation will celebrate iconic voices when they kick off their 2025 season with Aretha: A Tribute to the Queen of Soul, Friday-Saturday, Feb. 14-15, at RKF Studios, 2446 Lake Ave. 

This is the fourth year IMTF have opened their season with a concert featuring local vocalists to celebrate Black History Month. And who better to showcase than the Queen of Soul? 

No ordinary singer

Aretha Franklin is one of the greatest singers of all time and arguably the biggest impact on soul and R&B music as we know it.

With 18 Grammy awards, the Grammy Living Legend award, Rock and Roll of Fame induction, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom to go with so many other awards, it’s clear how incredible Franklin was. 

Growing up in Detroit, she began her singing career at New Bethel Baptist Church. After traveling with her father, Pastor Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, and doing what they called gospel caravaning tours, she began traveling with bigger gospel artists in Chicago. 

This led to Franklin, at the age of 16, going on Civil Rights Tours with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

It wasn’t until she moved from Columbia Records to Atlantic Records that her career truly hit a turning point. With “Respect” skyrocketing off her 1967 album I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, her fame and success were taking over the world. 

Her musical career flourished all the way until her passing in 2018. She had 20 songs top the Billboard chart, including “Respect,” “Something He Can Feel,” “Freeway of Love,” and “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” and that’s not even accounting for the No. 2 hit “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

She has become an icon and will remain that way as long as music continues. 

I found a quote from former President Barack Obama that I believe encapsulates who Franklin was and the impact she had. 

“Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll — the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope. 

“American history wells up when Aretha sings. That’s why, when she sits down at a piano and sings ‘A Natural Woman,’ she can move me to tears — the same way that Ray Charles’ version of ‘America the Beautiful’ will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed — because it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence.”

Local vocalists

Aretha will feature 10 singers: Martel Harris, Dave Ealy, Prentis Moore, Tamia Beverly, Jayleena Hill, Fatima Washington, Debbie Kirkland, Jordan Weatherbe, Albert Brownlee, and Jae Wilhelm, as well as performances by Peter Klopfenstein and the Indiana Musical Theatre All Star Band. 

I had a chance to speak with producer Alex Leavell about how this year’s Black History Month Concert Series, which has already honored Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke.

“The talent pool this year is much of the same as last year. However, this year we are adding two dynamite female vocalists in Jayleena Hill and Debbie Kirkland,” he said. “I am fortunate enough to pair them with Fatima Washington and Tamia Beverly. These four ladies really carry the show and share the bulk of the music. They also have some incredible male singers joining them.”

“The toughest thing this year is the amount of music involved, especially through backup vocals. We haven’t had an artist in the series elevate their music through background vocals like Aretha does. It’s more music for everyone to learn, but I think it’s going to take the show to the next level.” 

Demand for the show has been high in the past. And with limited seating at RKF Studios, something may have to give in the future.

“We love the intimate space our home base, RKF Studios, provides for the series, but I am curious what a bigger venue in the future could do for this show,” Leavell said. “However, I am in absolutely no rush to test those waters out, for what I think we have going is really special. But I definitely see this show eventually outgrowing its current venue at some point, which I never would have expected when I started this up in 2021.” 

Attracting new audiences

The patrons filling the RKF space are also some that may not find themselves purchasing tickets for local theater.

“I always love seeing new faces come through the doors for this show,” Leavell said. “There really is nothing else like it in the Fort Wayne theatre scene. 

“Because cabarets are very popular in this town, people tend to think this will operate in the same way, where people sit and respectfully listen to singer after singer. They’re very formal and often have intermissions. 

“I can always tell when people are new because usually around the third song, they realize this is not a cabaret at all, but rather a concert, a celebration rather, where the dance floor is hot, the band is grooving, and the atmosphere is unlike any other.”