Etta James
| Etta James | |
|---|---|
 Etta James performing in 1990.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jamesetta Hawkins |
| Born | January 26, 1938 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Genre(s) | Blues, R&B, Rock & Roll, Jazz, Soul |
| Occupation(s) | singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Voice type(s) | Contralto[1]. |
| Years active | 1954 – present |
| Label(s) | Modern Chess Argo Cadet Island Private Music RCA |
| Associated acts | Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Otis, Sugar Pie DeSanto |
| Website | Official Website |
Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame both in 1999 and 2008[2]. In the 1950s and 60s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best known for her 1961 ballad "At Last", which has been featured in many movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming services since its release. James has a contralto vocal range. [3].
Contents |
Early life
Jamesetta Hawkins was born in Los Angeles, California to an unmarried 14-year-old African-American mother, Dorothy Hawkins. She claimed that her mother told her that her father was pool player Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, who was Caucasian, and that they received financial support from him on the condition that they keep his paternity a secret. James was born in Los Angeles in 1938, at a time when Wanderone was known to be managing a pool hall in Washington, D.C.
She received her first professional vocal training at the age of five years old, from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
James' family moved to San Francisco in 1950 and James soon teamed up with two other girls to form a Doo-wop singing group. When the girls were fourteen, band leader Johnny Otis had them audition: they sang an answer to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie" called "Roll With Me Henry." Otis particularly liked the song, and against her mother's wishes, James and the trio went to Los Angeles to record the song in 1954. The song was recorded under the label Modern Records. By this time, the trio renamed the song "The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" and released it in 1955. James named her vocal group The Peaches. Richard Berry, a Los Angeles Doo Wop luminary is featured on some of their records.
In 1969 James married Artis Mills. They had two sons, Donto and Sametto James. Her granddaughter, Donto's daughter Karissia, was born in 1995.
Discovery
There are at least two versions of how Johnny Otis discovered Etta James. Otis's version is that she came to his hotel room after one of his performances in San Francisco and persuaded him to audition her (this is the version that Johnny tells to this day). Another frequently told story is that Otis spotted her performing in an L.A. nightclub with The Peaches and, having conceived of the answer song to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie," arranged with the Bihari brothers for Modern Records to record "The Wallflower" with James. "The Wallflower" reached number two on the rhythm and blues charts in February 1955 but was undercut in the wider market by a rushed-out cover version by Georgia Gibbs on Mercury Records. In fact, the very first time she was recorded in studio, they used the first take she recorded and it became number one on the top 100 songs in the nation. The song's royalties were divided between Hank Ballard, Etta James and Johnny Otis, and its huge success attracted the attention of the R&B world, resulting in James going on tour with Little Richard. On the tour, according to James, she witnessed and experienced situations to which minors are not usually privy, and she allegedly acquired a drug habit. Today Etta has a troublesome personality which may have resulted from her past habits [4].
Music career
Early success: 1955 — 1959
"The Wallflower" was a #1 hit on the R&B charts of 1955. The song was later a hit in the white market for Georgia Gibbs, re-written as "Dance with Me, Henry". Soon after the song's success, The Peaches and Etta parted company, but this did not halt her career. She continued to record and release albums throughout much of the decade, and enjoyed more success. Her follow-up, "Good Rockin' Daddy" was released and became another hit in the fifties. Other songs however, such as "Tough Lover" and "W-O-M-A-N" failed to gain any significant success at all. James toured with Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Otis Redding in the fifties and has cited Watson as the most significant influence on her style.
Breakthrough & the Chess years: 1960 — 1978
In 1960, James signed a recording contract with Chess Records, signing with their subsidary label, Argo Records (she later also recorded for their other subsidary label, Cadet). James began to have major hits off the label, first with a pair of duets with her then husband and singer, Harvey Fuqua; "If I Can't Have You" and "Spoonful." She had her first major solo hit with the R&B-styled tune, "All I Could Do Was Cry." The song quickly went up the Billboard R&B Chart,[5] peaking at #2 in 1960. This was followed by the Top 5 R&B hit, "My Dearest Darling" the same year. Around the same time, James also sang background vocals on Chuck Berry's hit, "Back in the USA."[6] That same year, James released her debut album off Chess entitled, At Last!. It featured all of James' hits betweern 1960 and 1961, and also included a few standards, such as Lena Horne's "Stormy Weather", "I Just Want to Make Love to You," and "A Sunday Kind of Love." The album showed James' choices of a large varieties of music.[7]
Chess Records head producer, Leonard Chess imagined James as a classic ballad-styled who had potential to cross over onto the Pop charts. Chess began backing James up on her recording sessions with violins and other string instruments, which was first seen on her 1961 hit, "At Last."[5] The song went to #2 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1961, and also peaked at #47 on the Billboard Pop Chart, ultimately becoming her signature song. Although it wasn't as successful as expected on the Pop charts, it did become the most remembered version of the song.[6] In 1961, James had another major hit with "Trust in Me," which also featured string instruments.[5] Also in 1961, James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around, an album inspired by Soul music. The album took the same direction as her previous album, covering many Pop standards, and using strings on many of the songs. Th album spawned a Top 15 hit, "The Fool That I Am" and a minor hit on the Pop chart, "Don't Cry Baby."[8]
In 1962, James had three major hits, beginning with the Gospel-inspired, "Something's Got a Hold on Me," which peaked at #4 on the R&B chart, and also reached the Pop Top 40.[9] Another single, "Stop the Wedding" followed and reached #6.[6] In 1963, James cut and and released her first live album, Etta James Rocks the House, which was cut in Nashville, Tennessee at the New Era Club.[5] In 1963, James had a another Top 10 R&B hit with, "Pushover," which also made the Pop Top 25. It was followed by two other singles that year that were minor hits on the Pop chart, "Pay Back" and "Two Sides (To Every Story)." That year she released her third album, Etta James Top Ten. Within the next year, James scored another Top 10 hit with "Loving You More Each Day" (which also reached #65 on the Pop chart) and had a Top 40 hit with "Baby What You Want Me to Do."[6]
In the mid-1960s, James began to battle a heroin addiction, which would last up until 1974. For years James would spend much time in out of Los Angeles' Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital.[6] However, in 1967 James began recording again and released her biggest hit in many years, "Tell Mama," which reached the Top 10. An album of the same name was also released that featured a cover of Otis Redding's "Security" which peaked at #11 on the R&B chart.[10] Although she wasn't as successful as she had been, James remained a large concert attraction. She continued to have R&B Top 40 hits up until the mid 1970s, with "Loser Weepers" (an album of the same name was released in 1971) and then with "I Found a Love" in 1972.[6] James released a new album in 1973 that was self-titled and spawned to minor hits. It was nominated for a Grammy award the following year.[10] Despite the death of Leonard Chess, James remained under the record lbel up until 1978, and began using more Rock based songs in her albums.[5] She released her final two albums for Chess in 1978, Etta Is Betta Than Evah and Deep in the Night.[10] That year, James also opened tour dates in the United States for The Rolling Stones and also played at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.[6]
Later career: 1988 — 1999
During the 1980s, James' career was put on hiatus for a few years. In 1989 she made her comeback with the album, Seven Year Itch, released off of Island Records, marking the first time James had a recording contract in seven years. James found a way to bring back her older raw sound she had used on previous albums.[9] The album was produced by keyboardist, Barry Beckett and was recorded at Alabama's famous Muscle Shoals Studio, where James had recorded previous major hits, such as "I'd Rather Go Blind." The album also helped James reunite with producer, Jerry Wexler, who worked with James on her 1978 release, Deep in the Night, and also produced many of Aretha Franklin's records.[6] James released a subsequent album in 1989 off of Island records entitled, Stickin' to My Guns, where she once again recorded at the Muscle Shoals recording studio.[10]
In 1992, James released her next album, The Right Time off of Elektra Records, where she again worked with Jerry Wexley. James then released a tribute album in 1993, Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday dedicated to one of her musical inspirations, Billie Holiday. The album was her first album for the Private Music label[9] and also set the trend for a few albums James would release within the decade that would go in a Jazz direction.[5] James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.[11]. The album earned James her first Grammy award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance in 1994. The following year, James published her autbiography co-written with David Ritz titled, A Rage to Survive.[9] The same year, James released a Soul-inspired studio album, Time After Time also produced with Jerry Wexley. In 1998, she released her first Holiday album, Etta James Christmas, off of Private Music.[5]
To a younger generation, Etta is known for the Muddy Waters song "I Just Wanna Make Love to You", used in television commercials for Coca-Cola and for John Smith's bitter (beer). The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and Foghat have also recorded the song. Etta's version was a surprise Top 10 UK hit in 1996. [12].
The Modern era: 2000 – present
James continued to record for Private music into the new millenium, finding her next release to be Matriarch of the Blues. Itwas given much praise from music articles and magazines, such as Rolling Stone Magazine, which said, "A solid return to roots, Matriarch of the Blues finds Etta James reclaiming her throne---and defying anyone to knock her off it."[9] In 2001, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and also was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2003, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[5] Her next album the following year, Blue Gardenia was another return to a Jazz music style. That same year, she also released her third live album, Burnin' Down the House: Live at the House of Blues, which was recorded at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. Two years later, she released her final album for Private Music, Let's Roll, which won James another Grammy in 2005 for Best Contemporary Blues Album.[13]
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her #62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time [14]. Etta James performs at the top world jazz festivals in the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, 1989, 1990, and 1993,[15] performed nine times at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival five times. She also performs often at free city outdoor summer arts festivals throughout the US.
Etta James was portrayed by R&B singer and actress, Beyonce Knowles in the film, Cadillac Records, which was released to theatres Friday December 5, 2008. The film is about the rise and fall of James' record label, Chess Records and how producer Loenard Chess helped lauch the career of James and her other counterparts at the label, including Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Other artists who will appear in the film are Little Walter and Willie Dixon.[16]
Personal life
Substance abuse
James encountered a string of legal problems during the early 70s due to her heroin addiction. James was continuously in and out of rehabilitation centers, including the Tarzana Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles, California. Her husband Artis Mills, whom she married in 1969, took a ten-year fall for James, however the couple are still married today.[9] James was also arrested around the same time for her drug addiction, accused of passing bad checks, forgery, and Drug possession for heroin.[17] In 1974, James was sentenced to drug treatment instead of serving time in prison. James was in the Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital for 17 months at age 35 and went through much struggle in the beginning of treatment. James later stated in her autobiography that the time she spent in the hospital changed her life. However after leaving treatment, James' substance abuse continued into the 1980s, after developing a relationship with a man who was also using drugs. It wasn't until 1988 at age 50 when James entered the Betty Ford Center for treatment that James no longer used drugs. She has been sober ever since.[9]
Obesity & weight loss
In later life, James struggled with obesity. During this time, her weight increased to over 400 pounds and she experienced limited mobility and knee problems. James often needed a motorized wheelchair to get on stage during her concerts. In the new millenium James began to experience further problems releated to obesity. She often had trouble getting up and soon began to prevent her from touring and threatened her life. In 2003, James underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost 200 pounds. Although it was a risk for James to undego the surgery since she was over age 60, James did not experience any major problems following the surgery. James called the surgery a "life-changing decision."[18]
Awards
Grammy history
| Etta James Grammy Award History | |||||
| Year | Category | Title | Genre | Label | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Grammy Hall of Fame | "The Wallflower" (aka "Roll With Me Henry") | R&B | Argo (1961) | Inducted[19] |
| 2004 | Best Traditional Blues Album | Blues To The Bone | Blues | RCA Victor | Winner |
| 2003 | Best Contemporary Blues Album | Let's Roll | Blues | Private Music | Winner |
| 2002 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award | Winner | |||
| 1999 | Grammy Hall of Fame | "At Last" | R&B | Argo (1961) | Inducted[20] |
| 1994 | Best Jazz Vocal Performance | Mystery Lady (Songs of Billie Holiday) | Jazz | Private Music | Winner |
The Blues Foundation Awards
| Etta James: Blues Music Awards[21] | ||||
| Year | Category | Title | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2006 | Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2004 | Soul/Blues Album of the Year | Let's Roll | Winner | |
| 2004 | Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2003 | Soul/Blues Album of the Year | Burnin' Down The House | Winner | |
| 2003 | Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2002 | Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2001 | Blues Hall of Fame | Inducted | ||
| 2001 | Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 2000 | Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1999 | Soul/Blues Album of the Year | Life, Love, & The Blues | Winner | |
| 1999 | Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1996 | Soul/Blues - Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1995 | Contemporary Blues-Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1994 | Female Blues Vocalist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1994 | Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1992 | Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year | Winner | ||
| 1989 | Contemporary Blues Female Artist | Winner | ||
Other awards
| Etta James Award History | ||||
| Year | Company | Category | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Billboard[22] | R&B Founders Award | Winner | |
| 2003 | Hollywood Chamber of Commerce | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star at 7080 Hollywood Blvd. | |
| 2003 | Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)[23] | Lifetime Achievement Award | Winner | |
| 1993 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | Inducted | |
| 1990 | NAACP | NAACP Image Award | Winner | |
| 1989 | Rhythm and Blues Foundation | Pioneer Award | Winner | |
Discography
See also
- Monterey Jazz Festival
- San Francisco Jazz Festival
- Chicago Blues Festival
- Bruce Robb (producer)
References
- ↑ Night Blind.
- ↑ Down Beat Magazine July 27, 2007 Etta James Hospitalized, Tour Suspended
- ↑ Night Blind.
- ↑ Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. pp. p. 209-210, 293-294. ISBN 0-02-061740-2.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Dahl, Bill. "Etta James > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 "Etta James: Biography". Rolling Stone.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ Cook, Stephen. "At Last! album review". allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "The Second Time Around album review". allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 "Etta James Biography". Musician Guide.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Larkin, Collin. "Etta James Biography". oldies.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ "Etta James - inductee". Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ↑ "Etta James - inductee". Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ↑ "Etta James awards". 'Grammy.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty Rolling Stone Issue 946
- ↑ Montreux Jazz Festival Database
- ↑ "Beyonce To Portray Legendary Blues Singer Etta James In 'Cadillac Records'". MTV.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ "Etta James". NNDB.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ "At last! Etta James loses 200 pounds and finds a new zest for life". Find Articles.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
- ↑ 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame List
- ↑ Grammy Hall of Fame Induction
- ↑ The Blues Foundation Database
- ↑ Billboard Honors Etta James
- ↑ Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
External links
- Etta James' Official website
- Etta James Pics
- Etta James at Allmusic
- Etta James at the Internet Movie Database
- Etta James - Jazz
- Etta James by Bonnie Raitt