“She scared me to death. I wouldn’t even go up and talk to her,” the country star said on The Jennifer Hudson Show, recalling her first meeting with Aretha Franklin
When Reba McEntire first met Aretha Franklin in Washington D.C., during the Eighties, she was starstruck. “She scared me to death. I wouldn’t even go up and talk to her,” the country star admitted during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show. Hudson herself knows a thing or two about carrying the weight of not only being in the presence of the Queen of Soul but also portraying her on-screen.
Given their shared experience, McEntire and Hudson took the opportunity to perform Franklin’s greatest hit, “Respect,” for a buzzing studio audience. The impromptu cover started with both singers trading lyrics from the song on the couch before they both ended up on their feet along with the rest of the room.
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Being able to take on the song of another great is likely what landed McEntire back in the role of a mega-mentor for Blake Shelton on this season of The Voice, having joined him during his first season. Shelton will depart from the singing competition after 12 years and 23 seasons. She also appeared to lend a helping hand to the coaches in season 8.
“Blake is a character, as you know, you’ve had to deal with him,” McEntire said, referencing the two seasons Hudson spent working alongside him as a coach on the series. “We’re both Oklahomans, both Oakies, so I was one of the first mentors the first year when he was on The Voice. And so, since he’s leaving, and he’ll be sure to tell everybody about that, he wanted me to be a mega-mentor on his last season.”
