-New Urban LIVE EVENT- The Homegoing Funeral Service of Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul (1942-2018) *UPDATED with Video Highlights*

NUY 40+ will feature live streaming today for the funeral of Aretha Franklin

In an outpouring of love from fans and colleagues hailing from around the world, this week the city of Detroit hosted 4-day long tribute to the cultural legacy of Aretha Franklin. The public memorial concludes today with the funeral of the legendary soul singer at The Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan., which will be broadcast globally at 9 am EST in the USA/ 15:00 CET for continental Europe.

Greater Grace Temple holds seating for 4,000 attendees. While the funeral is a private service that the Franklin family will allow to broadcast for a global audience, they have also allowed 1,000 seats to be opened to the general public on a first come first serve basis.  The ceremony will be a star-studded affair with remarks & remembrances by Bishop TD Jakes,  Pastor Shirley Caesar, Clive Davis, President Bill Clinton, Cicely Tyson, Tyler Perry and former US Attorney General Eric Holder. Music and worship will feature performances by The Aretha Franklin Orchestra, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams,  Vanessa Bell Armstrong, The Clark Sisters, Tasha Cobb Leonard, Ron Isley, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino, Ariana Grande, and the Aretha Franklin Celebration Choir.  The funeral will be officiated by Greater Grace Temple's Bishop Charles H. Ellis III.  Due to scheduling conflicts, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush will not be able to attend as they are taking part in memorial services for the Honorable Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), as per the Senator's written wishes shortly before his death by brain cancer last weekend. Both Presidents have expressed heartfelt, loving tributes with sorrow and condolences in the wake of the nation's cultural loss.

As glamourous in her passing as she was in life, with a memorial fit for a queen: A crop of the official press image released by the Franklin family from Tuesday's public memorial viewing. The public event took place at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American history in Detroit, where thousands of fans from far and wide turned out to bid farewell to the Queen of Soul.

The week began with Ms. Franklin lying for public view at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, with fans hailing from as far as Italy, Scandinavia, and Austrailia to see the artist whose music has touched lives and reached nearly every corner of the globe for over six decades. For two days, the Wright Museum provided an opportunity for fans of all ages, races, creeds, and colors to bid farewell to the Queen of Soul as she lay in peaceful repose. Day one featured the Queen of soul lying resplendently in red, as the mood amongst crowds was celebratory and jubilant for her homegoing to the Lord after a life well lived, with small groups often bursting out into spontaneous song recalling her many, many hits over the last 60 years.

The second day took a more somber turn as America's Queen of Soul was dressed angelically in light blue - and the last of those in a line that wound around city blocks for two days paid their respects.  Yesterday, Ms. Franklin was moved to her spiritual home in the church of her father Reverend CL Franklin, at the New Bethel Baptist Church-  dressed in rose gold as local churchgoers and neighbors who knew her best came to say to say goodbye.  No matter what class or color, whether they came from near or far, the underlying thread that united everyone in attendance to this week's memorial was the music that underscored their lives, and magnified our common humanity. Below, a Chicago fan breaks down what Aretha represented for many of us who have known her music since we were yea high:

On a  more lighthearted note, today's funeral will have a Detroit parade procession of over 130 pink Cadillacs, in honor of Aretha's 1985 pop hit, "Freeway of Love".  The procession was coordinated by Greater Grace Temple's First Lady, Chrisette Ellis.  A longtime friend of Ms. Franklin, First Lady Ellis is also the USA's National Sales Director of Mary Kay Cosmetics, whose agents drive pink Cadillac automobiles.  In helping prepare the program for Ms. Franklin's funeral, she heralded the call to Mary Kay agents and pink Cadillac owners nationwide to join in a celebration of the memories they shared from her music and legacy.

NUY 40+ obtained a full, finalized copy of today's funeral program earlier this week, which is expected to run for 5 hours. Due to length, we only have included an excerpt below, courtesy of WSBTV in Atlanta, Georgia. 

(Courtesy: @WSBTV)

*UPDATE*
To view the homegoing of America's Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, we have the shortened version of the 10-hour service below via TV ONE. Please note that actual seating and opening music begins after the first hour of footage at minute 1:49:00  with the last open casket viewing and traditional Gospel selections. The funeral coverage in this particular video ends with a Eulogy from President Bill Clinton.

The full, uninterrupted ten-hour live stream can be found via the following links at: TIME Magazine,  The Washington Post, ,  Global News Network, or  WDIV TV-4 in Detroit on their Youtube channel: CLICK ON DETROIT