Aretha Franklin sings praises of state police, IDOT

Aretha Franklin's luxury tour bus broke down on I-290 early Monday, and The Queen of Soul is thanking the Illinois State Police troopers and Illinois Department of Transportation workers who came to her aid.

"Aretha Franklin certainly got some respect from the state of Illinois this morning. They gave her some R-E-S-P-E-C-T," her manager, Clarence Waldon, said with a laugh. "They definitely jumped right to it when they heard she was having difficulty."

Franklin was on her way from Sioux City, Iowa, to Chicago early Monday, arriving in advance of her show Saturday at Ravinia. Around 1:20 a.m., the bus broke down on eastbound I-290 at Sacramento Avenue in Chicago.

Franklin's entourage called several limousine and car services, but they all were closed or had no vehicles. They called police, and within eight minutes, three IDOT vehicles and three state police cars arrived. Franklin's response was, "Hallelujah!" and "God was right on time," Waldon said.

O'Hare Towing towed the bus off the highway and the state police drove Franklin and her entourage to their downtown Chicago hotel, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Matt Boerwinkle.

Franklin's tour bus had to stop numerous times that night because of a leaking transmission. Members of the group repeatedly refilled the transmission fluid, but because it was a holiday weekend, they weren't able to get the bus repaired, Waldon said.

Franklin, the 73-year-old legendary singer and Detroit native, hasn't flown in decades and travels on a state-of-the-art tour bus between gigs with an entourage of about 12 people. She was awake when the bus broke down and is "absolutely fine," Waldon said.

"It was more just the fear of being broken down on the highway in the middle of the night. That's scary for anyone," he said. "It was just an inconvenience."

Both IDOT and state police spokesmen say it was nice of Franklin to publicly thank them.

"It was very appreciated by the troops in the field. It's always good to hear that assistance is appreciated," Boerwinkle said. "They would have done it for anybody, and they do it all the time."