Musicians, politicians, friends and fans are saying goodbye to Aretha Franklin at her funeral in Detroit.
The gospel-infused service has featured performances from Ariana Grande, Chaka Khan and Faith Hill, with Stevie Wonder and Jennifer Hudson still due to play.
The atmosphere is both mournful and celebratory, with the crowd breaking into a spontaneous dance of praise at one point.
Franklin died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer. She was 76.
Her big send-off involves 100 pink Cadillacs, a gold-plated coffin, three presidential tributes and eulogies by more than a dozen preachers.
They remembered her not just as the Queen of Soul, but as an aunt, grandmother, friend, civil rights activist and icon of black womanhood.
“Thank you, Lord, for Aretha,” a local pastor, EL Branch, said in an opening prayer. “She was first Detroit’s, then America’s, then the world’s.”
“One of my longest friends has gone home,” said Franklin’s fellow soul legend Smokey Robinson.
“You’re going to be one of the future voices in the choir of angels,” he told the singer, before breaking into an a capella rendition of his song Really Gonna Miss You.
Franklin’s son Edward sang Marvin Gaye’s Mercy, Mercy Me; while her niece Cristal remembered the aunt who “taught me bad shopping habits” and “chartered a bus so our family could go to President Obama’s inauguration”.
Ariana Grande sang one Franklin’s signature songs (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman but elsewhere, the service was like a Who’s Who of gospel with powerful and uplifting performances from The Williams Brothers, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and The Clark Sisters.
President Clinton remarked on Franklin’s work ethic, saying: “Yeah, she had the voice of a generation, maybe the voice of the century… but she also worked for years when nobody was paying particular attention.”
“She lived with courage – not without fear but overcoming her fears.
“She lived with faith – not without failure but overcoming her failures.
“She lived with power – not without weakness, but overcoming her weaknesses.
“I just loved her.”
