Anthony Bourdain, Stan Lee and other notable deaths in 2018

From soul diva Aretha Franklin to astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and former UN chief Kofi Annan, here are some of the notable figures who passed away in 2018:

- January -

- 15: Dolores O'Riordan, singer-songwriter of Irish band The Cranberries, drowned accidentally in a hotel bath aged 46.

- 27: Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish founder of affordable flat-pack furnishing empire IKEA, passed away at home aged 91.

- February -

- 21: US preacher Billy Graham, spearhead of a worldwide evangelical Christian movement and spiritual counsel to several US presidents, passed away aged 99.

- 24: Bollywood megastar Sridevi Kapoor drowned in a hotel bathtub at the age of 54. She had appeared in around 300 films, including blockbusters such as "Mawali" ("Scoundrel").

- March -

- 10: French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, famous for the "little black dress", died in his sleep aged 91.

- 14: Physicist Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous modern-day scientist and known for popularising the secrets of the universe, died at home aged 76. Suffering from a form of motor-neurone disease, he spent most of his life in a wheelchair and communicated via a computer speech synthesiser.

- April -

- 2: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela and an anti-apartheid icon in her own right, died in hospital aged 81 and after a long illness.

- 13: Oscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, behind "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus", died aged 86 after a short illness.

- 17: Barbara Bush, the wife of US president George H.W. Bush (in office between 1989 and 1993) and mother of president George W. Bush (2001-2009), passed away aged 92.

- 20: Swedish superstar DJ Avicii, real name Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat aged 28.

- May -

- 14: Author Tom Wolfe, acerbic chronicler of American society known for novels such as "The Bonfire of the Vanities", died aged 88 in hospital where he was being treated for an infection.

- 22: US literary giant Philip Roth, a towering figure among 20th-century novelists and 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, died of heart failure aged 85.

- June -

- 5: American handbag designer Kate Spade committed suicide at the age of 55.

- 8: US chef and television food show host Anthony Bourdain, 61, committed suicide in Alsace, eastern France, where he was filming for his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel programme "Parts Unknown".

- 18: XXXTentacion, a 20-year-old rapper whose grim rhymes propelled him to the top of the US chart, was shot in Florida.

- July -

- 5: French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, director of the landmark nine-and-a-half hour Holocaust documentary "Shoah", died aged 92.

- August -

- 6: French "chef of the century" Joel Robuchon, who at one point held a record 32 Michelin stars at the same time, died aged 73 from pancreatic cancer.

- 11: British writer V.S. Naipaul, a famously outspoken 2001 Nobel laureate who wrote on the traumas of post-colonial change, passed away aged 85.

- 16: Aretha Franklin, American "Queen of Soul" behind hits such as "Respect" and "Natural Woman", died of cancer aged 76. Her nearly eight-hour funeral was attended by former presidents, stars and musical royalty.

- 18: Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations between 1997 and 2006, died after a short illness at age 80. He was given a state funeral in his native Ghana.

- 25: John McCain -- US Republican senator, Vietnam War hero and two-time presidential candidate -- died aged 81 following a year-long battle with brain cancer.

- September -

- 6: Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, best known for alpha-male roles in the 1970s and 1980s, died aged 82 after a heart attack.

- October -

- 1: Charles Aznavour, legendary French-Armenian crooner, passed away at the age of 94.

- 15: Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and later a billionaire and philanthropist, died from cancer aged 65.

- 22: Gilberto Benetton, one of the founders of the eponymous Italian clothes brand, died aged 77 after an illness.

- November -

- 12: American comics legend Stan Lee -- co-creator of global action hero favourites including Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men and Black Panther -- passed away aged 95.

- 26: Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose work includes

"Last Tango In Paris" and Oscar-winning "The Last Emperor", died aged 77 at his home in Rome.

- 30: Former US president George H.W. Bush died aged 94, just months after his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush. They were the parents of president George W. Bush.

- December -

- 3: Belgium's richest man, multi-billionaire entrepreneur Albert Frere, passed away aged 92.

- 8: Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet-era dissident who became a symbol of resistance in modern-day Russia as a leading rights activist, died after a long illness at the age of 91.

- 28: Amos Oz, celebrated Israeli novelist and passionate advocate of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, died of cancer aged 79.

bur-eab/jmy/jj

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Celine Dion, John Legend to perform at Aretha Franklin tribute concert

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and John Legend will be among a host of singers to perform at a tribute concert for the late Aretha Franklin in January, the Recording Academy and other groups announced on Thursday.

Alicia Keys, Yolanda Adams, Patti Labelle and Janelle Monae will also do songs from the repertoire of the Queen of Soul at the concert, to be hosted by filmmaker Tyler Perry on Jan. 13 in Los Angeles.

Franklin, an 18-time Grammy winner and considered by many the greatest U.S. gospel and soul singer, died in August of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. Her six-hour long funeral in her Detroit hometown, featuring tributes by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and dozens of singers, was broadcast live on U.S. television.

The tribute concert in Los Angeles is a joint venture of the Recording Academy, which selects Grammy winners, Franklin’s long-time record producer Clive Davis, concert promoter AEG, and CBS television. The concert will be shown on CBS television at a later date still be announced.

“Aretha was more than the Queen of Soul; she was a national treasure. This unique concert, featuring many of today’s greatest artists, will celebrate Aretha in a spectacular manner befitting her once-in-a-lifetime talent,” Davis said in a statement.

Tickets for the concert go on sale on Dec 31.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Steve Orlofsky

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Aretha Franklin’s 'Amazing Grace' concert film finally debuts

NEW YORK CITY - Three months after her death and 46 years after she first recorded it, Aretha Franklin's live gospel concert is coming to the big screen.

"Amazing Grace," filmed in January 1972 when the Queen of Soul was just 29 years old, follows Franklin over 2 nights giving a concert at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Belting out gospel songs like "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Climbing Higher Mountains" and an 11-minute version of "Amazing Grace," Franklin brought churchgoers and guests (including Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger) to their feet.

But Franklin herself stands still, saying little in the 90-minute film.

"It's a church service. It's basically just our aunt standing there singing," Sabrina Owens, Franklin's niece and executor of her estate, told Reuters Television.

"She doesn't have much conversation with anybody beyond some of the technical crews that's around her. At some point she asked about a key and other point she asked about water, but she’s just basically standing there singing, giving her all, doing what she does best," said Owens, who is also a producer on the film.

The service was released as an album in 1972, becoming a best-seller for Franklin. But the film languished for years over problems with synchronizing the visuals and the audio. Advances in technology made it possible to fix that issue and producer Alan Elliott, who took over the project some 10 years ago, got agreement from Franklin's estate following the singer's death in August to finally release the film.

Owens said Elliott told her about the film some three years ago. "I had never even heard about it and he sent me the link, and I was like, 'Oh wow! This is really good'."

"Amazing Grace" got its world premiere in New York on Monday, winning warm reviews, and will get a limited release in the city and in Los Angeles in late November and early December, making it eligible for Hollywood's awards season.

Britain's Guardian newspaper said the film is "a spine-tingling sensation" while the Hollywood Reporter called it "somewhat shapeless as a movie... But it does contain moments of bliss."

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Aretha Franklin's eulogy was 'offensive and distasteful,' family says

Members of Aretha Franklin's family felt the eulogy for the Queen of Soul delivered by a pastor at her funeral last week was "offensive and distasteful," they said on Monday.

Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., the pastor at Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, spent his time at the podium raising social issues he said were critical to the black community.

Williams used the "platform to push his negative agenda" which Franklin's family "does not agree with," family members said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

"We found the comments to be offensive and distasteful," the family said. "Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her."

Family, friends and fans of Franklin offered a rousing farewell on Friday at an eight-hour service featuring tributes from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and civil rights leaders, as well as emotional performances by entertainers Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson and Gladys Knight.

Williams, picked because of past eulogies for family members, said in his remarks that single black mothers alone could not raise black boys to become men and that black lives would not matter "until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves."

He defended his comments at a news conference on Sunday.

"Respect for each other is the key to us changing the road we are on as a race," he said.

Franklin died at her Detroit home on August 16 from pancreatic cancer. Having sung at the inaugurations of three presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, she was an American institution, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then President George W. Bush in 2005.

Detroit treated Franklin's death like that of royalty, with people filing past her body in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History for two days to pay their respects.

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Detroit readies for Aretha Franklin tribute concert

DETROIT -- Aretha Franklin's casket is to lie in repose at her father's church on Thursday ahead of a tribute concert in her hometown Detroit and what will be a "jubilant" star-studded funeral on Friday.

Thousands of fans paid their respects at the open, golden casket of the US music icon and "Queen of Soul," who lay in state at the Charles H. Wright Museum for African American History on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 76-year-old singer, beloved by millions around the world, died of cancer on August 16, closing the curtain on a glittering six-decade career that made her one of America's most celebrated artists.

On the second night of the public viewing, a huge queue of young and old, from babies in strollers to elderly women leaning on crutches and sitting in wheelchairs, snaked half a mile to file past her coffin.

An estimated 15,000 people came on Tuesday with a bigger crowd on Wednesday, one museum official told AFP. On Tuesday, she was dressed in a red dress with matching stilettos and on Wednesday in blue. 

The funeral parlor have reportedly said Franklin will be dressed differently for each of the four days of celebration, which continues on Thursday with her coffin lying in repose at her father's New Bethel Baptist Church, where she hosted dinners and recorded an album.

In the evening a free concert honoring Franklin's life is to kick off at 6pm at the Chene Park Amphitheatre, an outdoor riverfront arena in downtown Detroit that has 5,000 seats and 1,000 lawn spaces.

Headliners include Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Angela Davis and Angie Stone. Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, is included in the line-up.

Joy, laughter

On Friday, former president Bill Clinton and Smokey Robinson are among those due to address her six-hour, invitation-only funeral with musical tributes coming from Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande.

"I think it's going to be a very upbeat service. I think it's going to be a very jubilant service," said Bishop Charles Ellis, pastor at the Greater Grace Temple where the funeral is being held.

"I think it's going to be a time of sadness, a time of joy, a time of laughter, there's going to be some dancing," he told AFP. "It's going to be all about her and the way she blessed us with her gospel music."

The gospel, soul and R&B star influenced generations of female singers from the late Whitney Houston to Beyonce with unforgettable hits including "Respect" (1967), "Natural Woman" (1968) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968).

"I think this is really doing her really good," said nurse Tremaine Townsend, 38, among the thousands who filed past Franklin's casket on Wednesday, thrilled by the four-day celebration.

"The city of Detroit loved her, this was her home and I think they're really showing her the love that she deserved," she said.

'Touched so many hearts'

Franklin is considered royalty in her Michigan hometown. The atmosphere outside the museum was festive, her music blaring out of loudspeakers as people danced and volunteers handed out water.

Franklin won 18 Grammy awards and provided a soundtrack to the civil rights movement, singing to raise money for the cause and uplifting activists with her phenomenal voice and upbeat anthems.

Her signature song, "Respect" -- recorded as a feminist anthem -- became a rallying cry as African Americans rose up nationwide in the 1960s to fight peacefully for racial equality.

"Everybody is just so thrilled when they go in and come out," said Evelyn Couch, 65, a retired social worker who is handicapped, and who traveled 60 kilometers with her family.

"I guess she touched so many hearts, you see people crying, you see people just smiling and singing her songs."

The daughter of a prominent Baptist preacher and civil rights activist father, Franklin sang at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the inaugurations of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

She was awarded America's highest civilian honor by George W. Bush and tops Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.

Married and divorced twice, and the mother of four, she will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, alongside her father and siblings.

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Music world mourns Aretha Franklin at MTV video awards

NEW YORK -- "Queen of Pop" Madonna led an impassioned tribute to "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin on Monday as the music world paid its R-E-S-P-E-C-Ts to the superstar at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The show came four days after 76-year-old Franklin died of pancreatic cancer and the industry used the telecast to send Franklin off in style.

"She led me to where I am today, and I know she influenced so many people in this house tonight, in this room tonight," said Madonna, who turned 60 last Thursday -- the day Franklin died.

Franklin has influenced generations of singers with iconic hits including "Natural Woman" and "I Say a Little Prayer." 

But "Respect" (1967) was her signature tune and the broadcast ended with a recording of Aretha belting out the Otis Redding cover as the audience danced wildly. 

"I want to thank you, Aretha, for empowering all of us. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Long live the Queen," Madonna added.

Fast-rising rapper Cardi B -- who recently became a mother -- was expected to launch the show at New York's Radio City Music Hall with a song but instead turned heads by simulating breastfeeding onstage.

She left performing duties to Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes, who treated fans to his acclaimed single "In My Blood," which chronicles his struggle with anxiety disorder. 

Whips, masks, conical breasts

Cardi B started the show as frontrunner, narrowly taking more nominations than Jay-Z and Beyonce, who ended the evening with just one award -- best cinematography -- for their Louvre-shot video "Apeshit."

But artist and video of the year -- for "Havana" -- went to former Fifth Harmony singer Camila Cabello, who earlier had to endure comedian Tiffany Haddish struggling to pronounce her name before joking awkwardly: "I only speak English."

Unlike the industry-led Grammys, the VMAs prides itself on outrageous made-for-television moments with less focus on who wins the awards.

As ever, the industry's most controversial stars strutted the red carpet in outrageous awards garb featuring whips, masks and, in model Amber Rose's case, conical breasts. 

All big awards shows these days are political and accordingly MTV debuted a new campaign, "+1 the vote" to encourage young people to go to the polls for November's midterm elections.

Childish Gambino's "This Is America," which racked up more than 100 million views in its first week on YouTube with its powerful take on gun violence and racism, won best video with a message, choreography and direction.

Gold was an unofficial motif for the night and former child star Ariana Grande, 25, was dressed accordingly in gilded sequins as she sung "God Is a Woman," her newly mature track about the delights of sex.

'We are all human'

Rapper Logic and Ryan Tedder offered one of the night's first big emotional moments when they performed their collaboration "One Day." 

Tedder was onstage as Logic entered the venue with dozens of immigrant children following him, wearing T-shirts that said, "We are all human beings" and holding candles.

There was a hometown takeover from Jennifer Lopez, who sizzled in a sequined body suit with a medley of some of her biggest hits, including "Ain't Your Mama," "Love Don't Cost a Thing" and "Get Right."

There was a change of costume and tone -- not to mention fake falling snow -- as she sang "Jenny From the Block" and was joined by Ja Rule for "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny."

It was a first appearance since 2001 for the bilingual, New York-born diva, who won best collaboration alongside DJ Khaled and Cardi B, for "Dinero."

"There's so much more to do and I know in my heart the future is even brighter," she said as she received the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award for her lifetime contributions to pop culture. 

Cardi B, who in little more than a year has become one of the most prominent women in the male-dominated world of hip-hop, also took best new artist.

"A couple of months ago, a lot of people were saying, 'You are gambling your career, you are having a baby'... but I had the baby and now I still win an award," she told the crowd.

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'Queen of Soul' Aretha Franklin dies at 76

NEW YORK  - Aretha Franklin, the preacher's daughter whose powerful voice made her the long-reigning "Queen of Soul" with such hit songs as "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," died on Thursday at the age of 76, officials said.

Franklin, who won 18 Grammys and had some 25 gold records, died at her home in Detroit, according to one of her publicists. She had been battling advanced pancreatic cancer, and her family had asked for prayers.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said few people in the city's history had been as universally loved or had left as indelible a mark as Franklin, describing her as a "performer without peers."

"Throughout her extraordinary life and career, she earned the love - and yes, the respect - of millions of people, not just for herself and for women everywhere, but for the city she loved so dearly and called home," Duggan said in a statement.

Franklin's father was a Baptist preacher in Detroit, and the gospel singing she heard in his church was her musical foundation. She created a uniquely emotional and powerful voice that put her at the forefront of 1960s soul music along with Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.

Franklin sang at the funeral of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, as well as at the presidential inaugurations of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. In 1987 she became the first woman voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2010 Rolling Stone magazine named her the No. 1 singer of the rock era.

After recording and touring as a young gospel singer, Franklin's career took a secular turn in 1961 when she signed with Columbia Records. She had only modest success with Columbia, which had trouble classifying her style and tried to steer her toward pop.

But when she switched to Atlantic Records in the mid-1960s, producer Jerry Wexler knew just what to do with Franklin, putting her powerful voice in a setting that combined gospel, soul and rock and made her a superstar by letting "the lady wail." As Franklin put it in her autobiography, she "Aretha-ized" the music.

STRING OF HITS

Franklin's heyday extended into the early 1970s as she dominated the music charts with "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Baby, I Love You," "Chain of Fools," "Think," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Do-Right Woman" and "Respect," a cover of a Redding tune that became a song of empowerment during the civil rights era.

Franklin's popularity would fade but she had a revival in the mid-1980s with songs such as "Freeway of Love," a duet with George Michael named "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," "Who's Zoomin' Who?" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

Along the way Franklin inspired a generation of singers.

"Pop music today is rich with glorious gospel voices and women singers in the mold cast by Aretha," the late Wexler said in his autobiography. "... Aretha became a model for people like Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston... The list of her disciples is long."

Franklin was known to be shy, moody, imperious and difficult. She often did not get along with other women singers, including her sisters, could be quick to fire underlings and was erratic when it came to showing up for concerts and appointments.

Franklin often demanded she be paid in cash before performing and took her status as musical royalty seriously. In 2008 Beyonce introduced Tina Turner as "the queen" at the Grammy Awards ceremony, which Franklin decried as "a cheap shot" at her.

PREACHER'S DAUGHTER

Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit. Her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was respected as a civil rights leader, an early advocate of "black pride" and a friend of King.

The Reverend Franklin was a charismatic figure but had also been arrested for drug possession and, under unexplained circumstances, his wife left him and their five children when Aretha was six. Four years later, Franklin's mother died and Aretha avoided discussing her parents publicly.

Franklin started touring as part of her father's gospel show as a teenager and got a musical education from gospel greats of the time - the Staple Singers, the Soul Stirrers, James Cleveland and The Mighty Clouds of Joy.

She also came to know jazz and R&B greats invited to the family home - Cooke, Art Tatum, Dinah Washington, Fats Domino and Bobby Bland.

By 17, she had given birth to two children and later had two other sons. First married to Ted White, who became her manager and publicly abused her, Franklin later married actor Glynn Turman in 1978 but they divorced in 1984.

Franklin, who was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, was the subject of a singing tribute at the February 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony and a Carnegie Hall tribute concert in early 2017. She did not attend either.

Franklin did not perform regularly for many years, partly because of an aversion to flying after a rough trip in 1982. Instead, she traveled in a customized bus. She often had to cancel shows for health reasons.

In February 2017, she said she would keep recording but retire from touring after a limited run of concerts marking a new album that year, "A Brand New Me," which featured her doing some of her biggest hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

She performed "Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2015 in a tribute to songwriter Carole King, who wrote the song. Her last live performance was Nov. 7, 2017, for the Elton John AIDS Foundation gala.

"I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now," Franklin told a Detroit television interviewer in 2017. "I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either."

President George W. Bush presented Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

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'Queen of Soul' Aretha Franklin gravely ill: report

CHICAGO -- Singer Aretha Franklin, a multiple Grammy award-winner star whose legacy stretches back decades, is gravely ill and surrounded by relatives, a reporter and family friend wrote on his website Monday.

The 76 year-old "Queen of Soul" Franklin, known for hits such as "Respect" (1967) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968), "is gravely ill in Detroit. The family is asking for prayers and privacy," wrote Roger Friedman on the Showbiz 411 website.

Franklin, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, last performed in November 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. 

Her final public performance was in Philadelphia in August 2017. 

"It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration," Friedman wrote, describing the Philadelphia performance.

Throughout her lengthy career Franklin accumulated 18 Grammy awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement.

Franklin's hits include "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (1968), "Day Dreaming" (1972), "Jump to It" (1982), "Freeway of Love" (1985), and "A Rose Is Still A Rose," (1998).

In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I Knew You Were Waiting for Me," a duet she sang with the late British singer George Michael, was one of her Grammy-winning hits.

In 2005, Franklin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest award for an American civilian -- by then-president George W. Bush.

And in January 2009, Franklin sang at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

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WATCH: Lougee sings Aretha Franklin on 'Voice PH'

MANILA -- Mojofly's former vocalist Lougee Basabas showed off her vocal range with an Aretha Franklin classic during the Knockout Rounds of "The Voice of the Philippines" on Sunday.

Basabas performed "Chain of Fools."

"I know that this song would bring out my highs and my lows, and the mid," she explained.

Her coach, Bamboo Manalac, pitted her against Arnee Hidalgo and Tanya Diaz.

However, despite her performance, Basabas failed to move on to the next round of the competition.

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