The Woman Who Was Kidnapped And Forced To Impersonate Aretha Franklin Before Thousands Of People

In 1969, Mary Jane Jones, a 27-year-old single mother in Petersburg, Virginia with a big, spectacular voice for gospel, was tricked - by a small-time James Brown impersonator - into traveling to Florida, where he threatened and bullied her into giving a series of performances that he sold to the black public in then-segregated cities as appearances by the Queen of Soul herself (who was the same age). Then Aretha, who was singing in Miami, found out - and so began a strange series of events that ended up with Jones performing (as herself) with Duke Ellington.

Article source here:Arts Journal