State Police Help a Stranded Aretha Franklin on I-290

Who’s zooming who, Aretha Franklin? Early Monday morning,the Illinois State Police and IDOT brought the zoom to the Queen of Soul as they rescued Franklin and her crew from I-290, henceforth to be known as the Freeway of Love, and sped them to their Chicago hotel.

The famous singer and her entourage were stuck on the side of the highway just outside downtown Chicago at 1:20 a.m. after her tour bus broke down and her assistants could not find a car service able to send a vehicle, reports the Associated Press. So, the State Police and three IDOT vehicles brought them into Chicago.

Her spokesman Clarence Waldron told the news service that Franklin exclaimed, “Hallelujah!”

A spokesman for the State Police was quick to point out that 82,000 stranded motorists were helped in Illinois last year, with assistance ranging from helping to change tired to finding hotels and helping transport people. So, Aretha Franklin isn’t all that special.

Aside from, you know, winning 18 Grammy Awards, selling 75 million albums, delivering one of the best scenes in “The Blues Brothers” and being enshrined in both the rock-n-roll and gospel hall of fames.

She’s performing Saturday, July 11, at Ravinia in Highland Park.