June 20, 2013

Crime History: Virginia woman arrested for Aretha Franklin impersonation

BY: SCOTT MCCABE FEBRUARY 14, 2013 | 3:19 PM
Leave a comment

On this day, Feb. 15, in 1969, Virginia hairdresser Vickie Jones was arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin during a concert in Florida.

Ocala County prosecutors brought her in for questioning and determined that Jones, 27, had been duped by a crooked concert promoter who lured her to Fort Myers with the promise to sing with Franklin. When she arrived, penniless, he threatened to "throw her in the bay" in if she didn't go on stage as Franklin.

At her hearing, prosecutors asked Jones to sing in the courtroom. The nervous Jones, hesitated, but she sounded so much like Aretha Franklin the judge spared her because the audience hadn't been able to tell the difference.

-- Scott McCabe

View article comments Leave a comment
Author:

Scott McCabe

Staff Writer - Crime
The Washington Examiner

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • June 17, 1953

    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

    Read More...
  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

    Read More...
  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The...

    Read More...