Aretha Franklin, before beginning a performance and invariably bringing the house down, had a habit of tossing her purse onto the piano. The gesture was surely part stagecraft, a bit of regal nonchalance from the Queen of Soul, but it was also a sign of what many who knew her said was her close attention to the dollars and cents.
Franklin, like many Black artists who came up during the Jim Crow era, demanded to be paid up-front, in cash, prior to taking the stage.
