Aretha Franklin talks new album, says health is 'fine'

• Franklin wants record to be %27blockbuster event%27 for Clive Davis
• Says a health issue delayed recording this summer%2C but she%27s %27fine now%27
• Danger Mouse was originally tapped as a producer

DETROIT -- The songs aren't even recorded yet, but Aretha Franklin thinks she just might have another smash hit on her hands.

The iconic Detroit singer spoke with assembled media Wednesday at a Southfield, Mich., hotel ahead of studio sessions with veteran producer Don Was and longtime friend Kenny (Babyface) Edmonds.

Those two will arrive in Detroit on Thursday for pre-production meetings with the Queen of Soul as she embarks on her latest adventure with record mogul Clive Davis, who shepherded Franklin's pop-chart resurgence in the 1980s with hits such as Freeway of Love. Recording on the yet-to-be-titled album will start in late November at a Detroit studio.

Franklin said she's confident that this batch of personnel — Davis, Was and Babyface — is just the recipe for another swing at contemporary radio.

"Mr. Davis said he doesn't just want another CD," she said. "He wants a blockbuster event."

Describing the album as a blend of pop and R&B, Franklin said it will include original material alongside several cover songs, likely including the Dinah Washington-popularized Teach Me Tonight and Whitney Houston's How Will I Know.

Thursday will be Franklin's first-ever meeting with the Grammy-winning Was, the Detroit-born producer and Blue Note Records chief whose studio resume includes the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt.

"He's a homeboy," Franklin said. "How you gonna beat that?"

Initially slated for the project was rap and rock producer Danger Mouse, best known for his Grammy-winning work with artists such as Gnarls Barkley and the Black Keys. Work on the Franklin album began earlier this year, but was delayed in the summer because of her still-undisclosed medical issue, and Danger Mouse moved on to an album with U2.

Franklin appeared bright and healthy at Wednesday's media event, performing a handful of songs at the piano for the TV cameras, including Greatest Love of All, made famous by Whitney Houston, and the Etta James standard At Last. The room was warm and muggy: In standard Queen of Soul protocol, she'd insisted that the air system be turned off for the sake of her vocal cords.

While she intends to limit her live performing from here out, playing just one or two dates a month, Franklin said possible upcoming gigs include a Christmas-week show at the MotorCity Casino Sound Board and a concert next summer at DTE Energy Music Theatre, where she had been scheduled to play in July.

That show was nixed along with the rest of her summer agenda because of Franklin's medical situation. She again declined to detail the issue, saying only that she required treatments that left her bed-bound for most of the summer.

"Everything is fine now," she said. "I'm good to go."

She's heading to New York for a Tuesday gala celebrating fashion designer Marc Jacobs.

"I need a party after what I've been through," she said. "A PARTY."

Franklin, 71, said the unexpected break has left her hustling to get her vocals in shape for recording.

"I'm doing a lot of singing right now, just getting my voice back to where it was," she said.

Franklin's reunion with Davis has been long in the works: She announced to the Free Press in December 2011 that the two were linking back up, with a new album to be released via his association with RCA Records.

Her most recent record, 2011's A Woman Falling Out of Love, was issued on Franklin's independent label, Aretha's Records.

Franklin is banking on Davis's legendary golden touch to reach the record-buying public — but she knows who she's out to please most.

"I hope to have a really smashing CD that everyone loves," she said. "Including me first."