Etta James at Last

Etta had a difficult childhood.  Her mother Dorothy Hawkins, who was only 14 and her father has never been identified.  Etta speculated that he was the pool player Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and met him briefly in 1987.  Due to her mother's frequent absences from their Watts apartment conducting relationships with various men, Etta lived with a series of foster parents, most notably "Sarge" and "Mama" Lu.  Etta referred to her mother as the Mystery Lady. Etta received her first professional vocal training at age five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir, at the St. Paul Baptist Church in south central Los Angeles.  She became a popular singing attraction there, and Sarge tried to pressure the church into paying him for her singing but they refused.  During drunken poker games at home, he would often wake James up in the early hours of the morning and force her through beatings to sing for his friends.  The trauma of being forced to sing meant she had a lifelong reluctance to sing on demand.

In 1950, Mama Lu died, and James' biological mother took her to the Fillmore District, San Francisco.  Within a couple of years, James began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group, called the Creolettes (due to the members' light skinned complexions).  The 14-year-old girl met musician Johnny Otis who took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches (Etta's nickname)and gave the singer her stage name reversing Jamesetta into Etta James. Her first recording in 1954 was an answer song to Hank Ballard's Work with Me, Annie originally titled Roll With Me Henry that Etta co-authored.  Released in 1955 as Dance With Me Henry changed to avoid censorship over the sexual overtones of roll with me.  The song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart.  Its success gave the group an opening spot on Little Richard's national tour.  Georgia Gibbs later recorded the song with the title changed to Wallflower that became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dueting with Harvey Fuqua, Etta recorded for the Chess label Argo (later Cadet) and her first hit singles with Fuqua were If I Can't Have You and Spoonful.  Her first solo hit was the doo-wop styled rhythm and blues number, All I Could Do Was Cry, becoming a number two R&B hit.  Leonard Chess had envisioned Etta as a classic ballad stylist who had potential to cross over to the pop charts and soon surrounded the singer with violins and other string instruments.  In early 1961, Etta released what was to become her signature song, At Last, which reached number two on the R&B chart and number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Etta started adding gospel elements in her music the following year releasing Something's Got a Hold on Me, which peaked at number four on the R&B chart and was also a top 40 pop hit.  In 1963, she had another major hit with Pushover.  With a couple years scoring minor hits, Etta's career started to suffer after 1965.  After a period of isolation, she returned to recording in 1967 and reemerged with more gutsy R&B numbers thanks to her recording at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama releasing her comeback hit Tell Mama, which was co-written by Clarence Carter, and reached number ten R&B and number twenty three pop.  The B-side was I'd Rather Go Blind, which became a blues classic in its own right and was recorded by many other artists.

Following this success, Etta became an in-demand concert performer though she never again reached the heyday of her early to mid-1960s success.  She continued to chart in the R&B Top 40 in the early 1970s with singles such as Losers Weepers (1970) and I Found a Love (1972).  Though Etta continued to record for Chess, she was devastated by the death of Chess founder Leonard Chess in 1969. Etta ventured into rock and funk with the release of her self-titled album in 1973 with production from famed rock producer Gabriel Mekler.  The album, known for its mixtures of musical styles, was nominated for a Grammy Award.  The follow-up album, Out On the Street Again, in 1974, was also critically acclaimed.  Etta continued to record for Chess releasing two more albums in 1978.  That same year, Etta was the opening act for The Rolling Stones and also performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.  Following this brief success, however, she left Chess Records and did not record for another ten years as she struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism.

With suggestive stage antics and a sassy attitude, Etta continued to perform and record well into the 1990s.  Always soulful, her extraordinary voice was showcased to great effect on her recent private releases, including Blue Gardenia, which rose to the top of the Billboard jazz chart.  In 2003, Etta underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost over 200 pounds.  The dramatic weight loss had an impact on her voice, as she told Ebony magazine that year.  I can sing lower, higher and louder, Etta explained.  That same year, Etta James released Let's Roll, which won the Grammy Award for best contemporary blues album.  Her sons, Donto and Sametto James, served as producers on the recording, along with Josh Sklair.  This team regrouped for her next effort, Blues to the Bone (2004), which brought Etta her third Grammy Award—this time for best traditional blues album. The story of the early days of Chess Records was brought to the big screen as Cadillac Records in 2008, with singer Beyoncè Knowles playing Etta James in the film.  Beyoncè also recorded her own version of James's signature song, At Last for the soundtrack. Etta released her last studio album, The Dreamer, in November 2011, which received warm reviews.  A few weeks later, Etta's doctor announced that the singer was terminally ill:  She's in the final stages of leukemia.  Etta James died at her home in Riverside, California, on January 20, 2012.  Today, she continues to be is considered one of music's most dynamic singers.

Wanderin' Spirit
July, 2014
"At Last"

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