NEW BEDFORD — Tiny Tavares of the legendary New Bedford-based national recording act Tavares told WBSM's Barry Richard that he had met the "Queen of Soul" on a couple of occasions.

Tavares said it was years ago when he had interaction with Aretha Franklin as they crossed paths while Aretha and Tavares were touring. He told Richard that "she had a great personality, was loved by everyone, and no one ever had a bad word to say about her. Anything you ever heard about her was true. She was sweet, kind, loved by every race, creed, color and religion," Tavares said.

The Grammy winner added that Franklin was so great because she could sing any type of music, and that she knew how to choose the best selection of songs that will live forever. Tavares said she could belt out the hits as well as the gospel songs she recorded.

Aretha Franklin died on Thursday morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She sold more than 75,000,000 records and received 18 Grammy awards.

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