Stevie Wonder rushed to Aretha Franklin’s bedside on Monday, wanting to see her one last time before her death on Thursday. Wonder recounted the visit to CBS This Morning on Friday: “I flew out from L.A. to Detroit and went to see her and spoke with her. She wasn’t able to speak back, but her family felt that she could hear me. I just said all the things I’ve always said, and told her to say hello to my sister that I lost this year as well.†Despite Franklin’s retirement from live performances in 2017, the two music icons were planning a collaboration. “We talked about doing some music as recent as maybe two months ago,†Wonder said, before tearing up on camera. “We’d been talking about it. There was a song I had written called ‘The Future.’ And we were going to, you know, sing it together.â€
Wonder said that Franklin’s impact would always be felt. “She touched every genre,†he said. “Every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang, and they will be forever be influenced by her because her voice, her emotion, her sincerity, is unforgettable.â€