Etta James

[Neumann Sennheiser]

Just heard it on KJR minutes ago that the very ill Etta James has passed away at 73 years of age. She has been very sick for awhile now so we all knew this was coming. The only remarkable thing for me is that I almost always get information like this on the internet. For radio to be my first source nowadays is far more the exception.

[radiofan]

Blues singer Etta James dies
CBC News Posted: Jan 20, 2012 11:47 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 20, 2012 11:57 AM ET

The Matriarch of the Blues, Etta James, whose iconic songs include At Last, and Something's Got A Hold On Me, has died in Southern California.

Her manager Lupe De Leon tells The Associated Press the singer died early Friday at Riverside Community Hospital in Los Angeles. She was 73.

A raw, sexual and larger-than-life figure, the performer fought drug addiction for more than 20 years. In her five-decades long career, James had several professional deaths and resurrections.

"I sing the songs that people want to hear," she once said.

"For my money, Etta's one of the pioneers," wrote the late Atlantic Records' producer Jerry Wexler in the 1992 book Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music. Wexler — who collaborated with some of the biggest names in music including Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and Bob Dylan — produced two of James's albums.

"Like Aretha [Franklin], Etta is a church in herself, her voice a mighty instrument, her musical personality able to express an extraordinary range of moods."

In January 2009, she battled a superbug blood infection. She was being treated at the time for an addiction to painkillers, according to her son Donto James, but then contracted the infection.

James was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in late 2008, which was kept under wraps for some time. Her son says the illness caused her to lash out at Beyoncé Knowles, who performed At Last at the Inaugural Ball of U.S. President Barack Obama in January 2009. Knowles also portrayed James in the 2008 movie Cadillac Records.

At the time, James said she "didn't care for Beyoncé" but her son says his mother was upset because her various ailments had prevented her from being booked for the historic event.

Born to a teen mother

Born Jan. 25, 1938 in Los Angeles to a 14-year-old mother, James, whose real name is Jamesetta Hawkins, never knew her father, but her mother did divulge that her father was a white man.

By the time she was five, she was already performing on the radio with a Los Angeles Baptist church choir. That period of her life would remain a favourite memory.

"The only time that I am really truly happy — when I feel at my best — is when I'm on the stage," James revealed. "I am that little girl who, when she was five years old, used to sing at church."

Discovered at age 14 by bandleader Johnny Otis, she was invited with her two friends, who had dubbed themselves The Peaches, to record the song The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry), released in 1955. It hit No. 1 on the R&B chart and launched the young singer's career. James later parted ways with her singing partners.

Dubbed Miss Peaches, she was soon on tour with the likes of Little Richard, Marvin Gaye and Bo Diddley, but true success would elude her until she signed with Chess Records in 1960.

After that, her career soared with big hits including Spoonful, If I Can't Have You, All I Could Do Is Cry and My Dearest Darling. Her 1961 release included her signature song At Last as well as covers of classics such as I Just Want To Make Love To You and A Sunday Kind of Love.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/ ... -obit.html

[hagopian]

Peaches could bring it. True classic. She and Aretha - two gems.

Sad day for music.

Miss Etta had been sick for a long time.

Man, she was the real McCoy.