Legendary Blues Singer Etta James Dies At 73

Legendary Blues Singer Etta James Dies At 73.The storms of life bring clarity to a song.

And the music is where Etta James has found refuge.

Mrs. James died early Friday at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California, of complications from leukemia, according to her manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.

She was also suffering from dementia and kidney problems. In December, her doctor announced that its terminal leukemia and has been asked for prayers for the singer.

The husband of Mrs. James, Artis Mills and his two sons were at her side when she died, De Leon said.

"It's a tremendous loss for his fans worldwide," said De Leon. "She will be missed. A great American singer. His music defied category. "

A best-known song of Ms. James was the ballad "At Last," recorded in 1961, just after she signed with Argo, a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago. With its measured contralto, Mrs. James went to the dynamics of a relationship together, wanting to, discovery and renewal. The trip was difficult. And it was at the finish line.

"At Last" is a crucial record of failures in the lexicon as it moved the label from an impression of blues (Muddy Waters, Howlin 'Wolf) to pop.

Club In Chicago saxophonist Lisa Riley Hampton had been recruited to create arrangements with lush string sections that had never been used in chess. The label hit the jackpot, sweet strings pop counterpoint Hampton with Mrs. James "live blues-jazz style.

His songs lasted for generations. Last year, the electro-rapper Flo Rida sampled Mrs. James 1962 hit "Something Got a hold on me" in his single "Feeling Good. In 2008, Beyonce Knowles "its portrayed in the movie" Cadillac Records ", which loosely depicts the early years of failures. "One thing I learned is Etta fearlessness," Beyonce said while promoting the film. "She was Etta all the time. She has not tried to change for anyone. If crossing was not for her - she was the first African American woman to cross the radio -. I would not have the opportunities I "Beyonce released Friday on its website," This is a huge loss. ...When she opened her mouth without effort, you could hear the pain and triumph. His way of delivering a deeply emotional song has told his story without any filter. "

Mrs. James was born January 25, 1938, as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles. His mother was an African-American teenager. She never knew his father and loved to speculate that he was the famous pool player Minnesota Fats. Mrs. James was raised by his grandparents and caregivers. She grew up and toured with the late Johnny "Guitar" Watson and was discovered in 1951 by West Coast bandleader Johnny Otis, who died Tuesday at age 90. He must have called his home.

As the doo-wop singers of the time, Ms. James has been singing on street corners in Los Angeles and as a minor act in nightclubs in California as a member of the Creolettes. The all-girl trio performed in glittering gowns with fish tails long hair high and great attitudes.

After seeing the group, renamed Otis colorful peaches and Mrs. James was first around Name (Jamesetta Etta James). He co-wrote his first hit in 1955's seminal classic rock n 'roll, "Roll With Me Henry," which was considered too suggestive for broadcast on the radio. Georgia Gibbs cleaned and had a pop hit in 1955.In 2008; Ms. James received a Grammy Award for his release.

Ms. James' no-nonsense model has been set.

She would roll through punches of life.

Ms. James meet leukemia, obesity, gastric bypass surgery, dementia, and hepatitis C. Marshall Chess, son of Chess co-founder Leonard Chess was fascinated by tattoos Mrs. James cigarette burn. "Etta was the queen in chess," Chess Marshall said Friday in New York. "It was clear from day one in 1959 when she walked like a young woman with a whole entourage following behind her, like a scene in a Fellini film. She was one of those special artists like Muddy, Wolf, Chuck [Berry] and Bo [Diddley] and everyone knew it. She took the music of chess to a new place. "

As Ms. James mounted star, she found it difficult to distract the demons. His heroin addiction was so bad that her veins collapsed when she pulled open his forehead.

"Music was a way for her to get out of pain," said Chicago-based Chess session man Gene Barge, who arranged and produced several singles Ms. James' 1970 with its majestic ballad "Weepers losers. "" There is adversity, rejection and does not receive some of the money you think you should get what was another reason for her to withdraw. He slowed, but it was a great singer who has read the singers. As Janis Joplin and others who emulated his style.

"Etta should have been an actress and comedian. She was very funny. It could take almost anyone to sing. She was down to one of Ray Charles "T". She knew what she wanted to do in the studio.

It would have consumed a producer if he had a mild temperament. "

Chicago, gospel-soul icon Mavis Staples last shared the stage with Ms. James in 2005 at a festival in Lansing, Mich. "When a person has had a life like Etta had, you know that music was a refuge," Staples said.”Singing is all she had to keep it afloat. We were the same in that we did not have vocal coaching or music teachers. She probably knew what key she sang, I do not even know that.

"Etta James was a soul singer. In VH1 "Diva" tapings they asked me to define the soul. For me, the soul is the intestine. Etta sang from deep. She did not sing at the top of his head. With the soul within you highlight what you want to tell. I loved Etta James. "

Mariah Carey on Friday tweeted, "Rest in peace to one of the world's most influential singers Etta James, you will be missed."

Some asked that Ms. James "The Billie Holiday R & B." According to the 1995 biography, David Ritz, Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story, the owner of a boarding school where she was raised woke up after Ms. James her all night, drunk poker games. It would make him sing like a wet bed, the young Ms. James has been traumatized. Ritz (working on the biography of Buddy Guy) wrote that this has led to Ms. James' life-long reluctance to sing on request.

In his early years in chess, Mrs. James boyfriend was the late Harvey Fuqua of the Moon glows. They recorded all the failures, including the covering of a horn loaded bawdy version of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful." Even in the early 1960's chess, Mrs. James preferred the rhythm of the blues rough and Little Willie John and his mentor Johnny "Guitar" Watson. "I do not want to go in this stuff Muddy Waters and Howlin 'Wolf," she says in the book of 2000 "Etta James. The Chess Box "" I thought it was a bit too low at home and a little too old to young. "

In 1969, Ms. James married Artis Mills and they were later arrested for possession of heroin together. He served a prison sentence of 10 years. She was sentenced to drug treatment.

December 19, a judge ruled that Mills would retain decision-making control over its finances and health care, but only out $ 350,000 for medical expenses of the singer's $ 1 million instead of the real estate Mills $ 500,000 requested. Ms. James' son DONTO had requested a temporary conservation ship due to concerns over spending.

Mrs. James was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll of Fame in 1993 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. She has won six Grammy Awards.

She recorded failures between 1960 and 1978, with such hits as "Stop The Wedding" (1962) and the inflatable Beach Music classic "Fool" (1963). In 1967, Ms. James has recorded tracks cadets chess with barge Rick Hall Muscle Shoals (Alabama) studios and enjoyed cross hits like "Tell Mama" and the blues ballad "I Rather Go Blind," later popularized by Rod Stewart. In 1997, she hosted the WTTW-Channel 11 documentary "Record Row: Cradle of Rhythm and Blues", whch celebrated Chess, Vee-Jay and other labels that flourished from the mid-1950s until the mid- year 1970 on the stretch of 10 blocks of South Michigan Avenue, a neighborhood that is doing a comeback as a music destination.

In a Q & A with 1995 of the now defunct Hear Music, Ms. James shared the song which brings chills "page Shawn Rose, the gospel singer," she said. "Forgive me Jesus."

I think when I listen to you just really want to remember. "

Mrs. James is survived by her husband and son and DONTO Sametto James, who both performed in his band

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Etta James, Powerful Voice Behind Dies At 73

Etta James, Powerful Voice Behind Dies At 73.Etta James, whose powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice may lead the raunchiest blues and subtle love songs, most indelibly in his signature pipe, "At Last", died Friday morning at Riverside, California, she was 73.
Her manager, Lupe De Leon, said the cause was complications of leukemia. Ms. James, who died at Riverside Community Hospital, was treated for some time for a number of conditions, including leukemia and dementia. She also lived in Riverside.

Ms. James was not easy to classify. It is most often referred to as a rhythm and blues singer, and that's how it has made a name in the 1950s with recordings such as "Good Rockin 'Daddy." It is both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame.

She was as comfortable and convincing, singing pop standards, as it did in 1961 with "At Last" which was written in 1941 and originally recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. And one of its four Grammy Awards (including a great honor for life-achievement in 2003) was one of the best jazz vocal performance, she won in 1995 for the album "Mystery Lady:. Songs of Billie Holiday"

No matter how it was classified, she was admired. Expressing a common sentiment, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote in 1990 that she had "one of the great voices of American popular music, with a huge range, a variety of tones and vast reserves of volume."

For all his accomplishments, Ms. James had a career up and down, in part because the evolution of public taste, but mainly because of drug problems. She developed a heroin addiction in the 1960s, after she overcame in the 1970s, she began using cocaine. She candidly describes his struggles with addiction and his many trips to rehab in his autobiography, "Rage to survive," written with David Ritz (1995).

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles January 25, 1938. His mother, Dorothy Hawkins was 14 years old when his father was long gone, and Mrs. James never knew exactly who he was, although she recalled her mother saying he was the famous player Rudolf Wanderone pool, better known as Minnesota Fats. She was raised by adoptive parents and moved to San Francisco with her mother when she was 12.

She began singing at St. Paul Baptist in Los Angeles at 5 and turned to secular music as a teenager, forming a vocal group with two friends. She was 15 when she made her first recording, "Roll with Me Henry," which established his own words to the tune of Hank Ballard and the Midnights' hit recent "work with me Annie." When some disc jockeys complained that the title was too suggestive, the name was changed to "The Wallflower", although the recording itself was not.

"The Wallflower" rose to No. 2 in rhythm and blues charts in 1954.As was often the case these days with records by black artists, a watered down version was immediately recorded by a white singer has found a wide audience: Georgia Gibbs version with the title and lyrics changed to "Dance With Me, Henry, "was a No. 1 pop hit in 1955. (His success was not all bad news for Ms. James. She shared songwriting royalties with Mr. Ballard and the bandleader and talent scout Johnny Otis, who organized the recording session. (Mr. Otis died Tuesday.)

In 1960, Ms. James was signed by Chess Records; the label of Chicago was home to Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and other top names in black music. It quickly developed a series of hits including "All I could do was Cry," "Trust in Me" and "At Last", which established his as the first major female star Chess.

She stayed with many failures in the 1970s, only to reappear on the charts after a long absence in 1967 with the funky and fiery "Tell Mama." In the late 70's and early 80's, she was an opening act for the Rolling Stones.

After decades of touring, recording for various labels and drifting in and out of the public eye, Mrs. James ended up in the news in 2009 after Beyoncé Knowles recorded a version of "At Last" modeled on his own. (Mrs. Mrs. James Knowles played in the 2008 film "Cadillac Records", a fictionalized account of the rise and fall of failures.) Ms. Knowles has also made "At Last" at an inaugural ball of President Obama in Washington.

When the film was released, Ms. James has had kind words for the representation of Ms. Knowles. But in February 2009, referring specifically to the performance of Washington, she said to an audience, "I cannot stand Beyoncé," and threatened to "whip" the young singer to sing "At Last." Later, she said she was joking, but she did add that she wanted; she was invited to sing the song itself for the new president.

Ms. James Survivors include her husband of 42 years, Artis Mills, two son, and DONTO Sametto James, and four grandchildren.

Although his life has had its share of trouble at the end - her husband and son were locked in a long battle over control of his estate, which was resolved in favor of her husband just weeks before his Death - Mrs. James said she wanted her music to transcend the disaster rather than to think.

"Many people think the blues is depressing," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1992, "but it's not that I sing the blues. When I sing the blues, I sing of life. People who cannot stand to listen to the blues; they have got to be impostors. "

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