“Queen of Soul” singer Aretha Franklin has become the latest celebrity to announce an engagement over the holidays, joining a list including “Aerosmith” frontman Steven Tyler and basketball superstar LeBron James. She is engaged to longtime friend William “Wille”Wilkerson.
The Grammy-winning singer told The Associated Press in a statement Monday that she and Wilkerson are considering a summer wedding, perhaps in Miami Beach, Fla. The Queen of Soul wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht. Franklin said in a statement that they are looking at June or July for their date and jokingly saying that she is not pregnant. Franklin and Wilkerson became engaged over the holidays. She is considering Vera Wang, Valentino and Donna Karan to design her dress. Franklin has been married twice before. The 69-year-old singer was sidelined by a mysterious ailment at about this time last year, but overcome her health scare in January and shed 85 pounds on the road to better health. The legendary singer of 1960s hits like “Chain of Fools” and “Baby I Love You” sang at her own 69th birthday party in March. She was also the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Tyler, 63, rocked longtime girlfriend Erin Brady, 38, with a proposal, too, his representative confirmed to celebrity media, but no details were given. Tyler has been married and divorced twice. He is one of the judges on the hit Fox TV show “American Idol.” As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, a jewelry designer previously confirmed to Access that she had designed the engagement ring for the rocker. Loree Rodkin, who designed the ring Steven Tyler gave to Erin, revealed that the ring is a 5-carat diamond sparkler, set on a platinum band encrusted with glittering micro pave diamonds. At the time, reps for the rocker would not comment on the rumored engagement. In recent days ahead of New Year’s Eve, the two have been photographed in Hawaii with Brady showing off a new diamond engagement ring wrapped around her finger. Tyler and Brady have been together since 2006. It will be his third marriage. Together for seven years, Tyler and Brady, 38, first met when she acted as the band’s tour accountant.
As Tyler prepares to wed for the third time, he and Brady sat down with Oprah Winfrey for the talk show host’s Final Chapter Sunday, discussing how their bond endures. He said that for all the divorces he has had, he admitted that he hurt those girls deeply and there was some behavior that he is ashamed of and he should not has done. He added that he does not want to hurt anybody again. Brady says her relationship with the rocker works because they have a mutual understanding when it comes to his past transgressions and wandering eye.
James and his longtime girlfriend Savannah Brinson also became engaged over the New Year holiday weekend. The Miami Heat star later told the Associated Press that his girl is very excited and she would love to answer more questions about it than him adding that she is happy as well as his family and that is what it is about.