Reviewed by: The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait by Linda Solomon Raelyn Aro Linda Solomon. The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2019. Pp. 214. Illustrations. Hardcover: $34.99. Linda Solomon's The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait is just that: an intimate representation of Detroit's own Queen of Soul. As a photojournalist—and later a close friend of the Franklin family—Solomon creates a memorable tribute by sharing the private and precious memories of Franklin throughout her personal and professional life through a series of photographs. Beginning in April 1983—when Solomon first met and photographed Franklin—her photographs take readers to the end of August 2018, when Solomon joined the Franklin family in attendance of the singer's private memorial service at the St. Regis Hotel in Detroit. Solomon's work displays the ways in which Franklin touched the hearts of her friends, family, and fans—but most remarkably the love she had for the city of Detroit. With the inclusion of Franklin's appearances on talk shows, concerts, and the American Music Awards, Solomon gives readers a backstage pass to Franklin's most public moments through her photographs of the singer getting ready, waiting to perform or speak for each event, and hanging out with family and friends backstage. Although Franklin's appearances on the national stage are most likely to remain in the public memory, it was her philanthropy that expressed her deep love for Detroit as well as Detroit's love for her. Solomon photographed the artist as she volunteered to take pledges and signed autographs at the Easter Seals telethon in Detroit during April 1985 (26-29), performed for the Detroit Institute of Arts benefit in October of the same year (44-47), and was honored as a contributor by the United Negro College Fund at the Omni/Millender Center during November 1986. (100-103) It is Solomon's photographs of Franklin with her family and friends that make the most impact, however. The photographs from Franklin family events bring the artist to life as she celebrated "Christmas at Home" in 1985 and again in 1987 (49, 127), her son Teddy's graduation from Michigan State University in 1986, and her hosting a 1988 masquerade party she held for her friends. Through Solomon's work, it is easy to see Franklin as more than the Queen of Soul as readers get to know the singer and her family throughout her lifetime. Although Solomon does not share the photographs and memories she captured from the memorial service, she instead shares those of Detroiters gathered in crowds to pay their own respects to the beloved icon. Similarly, Solomon shares a photograph of The Fillmore marquee sign [End Page 160] that reads "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." in tribute to Franklin. (209) Though the photographs from August 31, 2018, are few, they nonetheless display the imprint Franklin made on the soul of the city. Solomon's collection remains significant to Michigan—particularly Detroit—history. Through her photographs, Solomon makes clear that Franklin was more than the singer Detroiters loved, but also a philanthropist for her city and its people, an activist for women, an advocate for higher education, as well as a loving mother, sister, aunt, and friend. The Queen Next Door is neither a biography nor a typical monograph but rather a collection of Franklin's life as remembered by those closest to her in the decades after she returned to Detroit until her death. The photographs alone immortalize Franklin in the same way that her music does. Whether one is remembering Franklin or learning of her for the first time, Solomon's work showcases the ways in which the singer continues to reach Detroiters and fans nationwide in the years after her death. Raelyn Aro Central Michigan University Copyright © 2021 Historical Society of Michigan