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Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin will play New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark Saturday, in support of her new "Diva Classics" compilation album. (Courtesy of RCA Records)

NEWARK -- The last time Aretha Franklin graced a New Jersey stage, she took a moment to commemorate its fallen diva.

The Queen of Soul's 2013 set struck a somber pitch when Franklin celebrated her honorary niece Whitney Houston, singing a snippet of "I Will Always Love You" and referring to the Newark native as "one of the finest singers ever to step before a microphone."

Nearly two years later, Franklin will return to the Brick City, again at NJPAC Saturday night, for a performance dedicated to many more of music's monumental talents.

The enduring luminary will perform several tunes off her fall release, "Aretha Franklin Sings The Great Diva Classics," her first major label album in 11 years. The 10-track compilation spans 50 years of R&B and pop, stringing together reworked tunes from Etta James, Adele, Barbra Streisand and more.

Longtime pop visionary and RCA Records executive Clive Davis brought the idea to Franklin in 2013, handing her a list of songs.

"I absolutely approved," Franklin says in a recent phone interview. "I loved them all, and bought some of them when they came out originally."

Apt for a quick story, she continues, laughing "I told Berry (Gordy) many years ago, 'Do you realize how much money you owe me for all the Motown records I've bought?' "

Franklin tackles a few mega-hits from the era on the new album, belting out Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" and The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" with her signature rasp and panache.

But Franklin, now 72, is unafraid to take on more contemporary tracks, and in true 21st-century form, her 38th studio LP includes several intertwining mashups dubbed "Aretha versions." Adele's 2011 pop smash "Rolling in the Deep" is mixed with the soul duet "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Gloria Gaynor's classic "I Will Survive" bleeds into Destiny's Child's hit "Survivor."

Franklin assures more traditional fans that her new renditions sang this weekend will be mixed with her usual soul standards "Respect," "Chain of Fools" and "Think."

Although Franklin is forever associated with the "diva" image, and therefore the other acts on this new album, she says she's only ever performed one of these new covers with the original singer. She sang "I'm Every Woman" with Chaka Khan at a party in Detroit, she says, around 18 years ago.

Aretha and Trey Songz?

Franklin's imitable impact on popular music over the last half-century has been coupled with her evolving fandom and broad listening tastes. She speaks gleefully of last month's Grammy Awards, mentioning how much she liked AC/DC's performance. "That opening song was really funky," she says.

She mentions some of her favorite current artists include Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, Usher and Trey Songz, with whom she'd like to try a duet.

Following her New Jersey show, Franklin looks forward to visiting Las Vegas and California in the summer. A well-known non-flyer, Franklin's bus trip out west from her home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., takes six days with overnight stops.

"It's like a wagon train," she jokes. "I can just imagine how the pioneers felt coming across the country."

In August, she will play her first Bay Area concert in more than 30 years, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Franklin also says she's considering a possible "long-term engagement" in Sin City.

In between shows, she's acted as mentor to her son Kecalf Cunningham, a Christian hip-hop artist, and her grandson Jordan, a pop singer and songwriter.

"I've been introducing them to the industry," she says.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.