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Aretha Franklin once hired three make-up artists to prep her for a single event, according to a longtime pal.
Apparently, the iconic singer brought in top celebrity makeup man Reggie Wells, another artist just to work on her eyes, and “another lady [who] came from Detroit to do her lips” for an appearance at Radio City Musical Hall.
Franklin’s former publicist Gwendolyn Quinn revealed the fabulous tale in a tribute to Wells, whose family announced his death on Monday.
And it seems that Wells, who didn’t know about the other two until he got to Radio City, wasn’t thrilled about the arrangements.
“Reggie was DONE and I was in the middle of [the fallout],” she posted in an Instagram tribute to Wells.
“[Wells] wound up finishing everything… He knew how to handle divas like that,” Quinn told Page Six. “Reggie and I talked and laughed about this almost every day for a week.”
Emmy-award-winning Wells was at one time or another the go-to artist for A Listers including Beyonce, Halle Berry, Michelle Obama, Beverly Johnson, Chaka Khan, and Oprah Winfrey, who he worked with for nearly three decades.
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Quinn said she always looked forward to when Franklin would have her hire Wells because “we would laugh uncontrollably. The stories he shared… just unforgettable,” she said.
Perhaps, Wells would have sympathized with us back in 2016 when she scolded us at her 74th birthday party for writing about her allegedly causing a commotion during a performance of “The Color Purple” on Broadway.
A source told us at the time that Franklin “showed up late to a performance at the Jacobs Theatre, took up six seats around her, and began holding her phone in the air to snap photos of the show.”
At the party, she told us, “I buy and read Page Six religiously every time I come to New York. When I get up, I’m reading The Post . . . [and that story was] a lot of BS.” The “Respect” legend instructed us to “hit whoever wrote [that] over the head. Give them a good hit over the head!”
Her lesson in respect is one we continue to cherish.
Franklin last played two shows at Radio City in 2014 as part of a comeback run at 72.
Meanwhile, Wells helped blaze a trail for other celebrity makeup artists including Winfrey’s current one, Derrick Rutledge, and Sam Fine, who called him a “friend, mentor and pioneer” in an Instagram post.
“You will be missed my friend,” Fine wrote.
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