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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZJAMES, Etta(b Jamesetta Hawkins, 25 January 1938, Los Angeles CA; d 20 January 2012, Riverside CA) R&B singer, one of the greatest. Her mother said that her father may have been Minnesota Fats, the legendary pool hustler. She was discovered by Johnny Otis in San Francisco; they wrote 'Roll With Me, Henry', an answer to Hank Ballard's 'Work With Me, Annie'; released as 'Wallflower' it was no. 2 R&B hit '55, followed closely by 'Good Rockin' Daddy' (no. 12) on Modern. It was 'Wallflower' that inspired Georgia Gibbs's million-selling rip-off; division of royalties on that was very complicated, with the Bihari Bros (Modern), Otis, Etta, Ballard etc all getting a piece. There were no more hits until '60: broke in Chicago, she was signed by Chess (who paid her hotel bills and bought the Modern contract) on the recommendation of Harvey Fuqua; ten R&B hits followed on Argo '60-63, eight in the top ten; six more on Cadet '67-70; 24 crossed over to the pop chart '60-70. She also had hits with Fuqua as Etta and Harvey ('If I Can't Have You' and 'Spoonful' '60) and with Sugar Pie DeSanto '65-6; she had no hits of her own '65-6 partly due to drug problems, but among young European rockers she was as big a star in the early '60s as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and the rest; her searing ballads ('All I Could Do Was Cry') had forecast the age of soul music to come. Beginning in '67 ('Tell Me Mama') the records were made in the Muscle Shoals soul hit factory. Albums in the pop LP chart included At Last! '61, Etta James Top Ten '63, live Rocks The House '64 on Argo; Tell Mama '68 and Etta James '73 on Cadet (some proceeds went to drug rehabilitation programmes). In '72 she returned to the black chart with 'I've Found A Love'; further LPs including Come A Little Closer '74, Etta Is Better Than Evah! '75, Deep In The Night '78. Astonishingly, no albums at all were listed in the USA Schwann catalogue mid-'80s; then Late Show '86 on Fantasy made live in an L.A. club with Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson and Shuggie Otis etc was followed by Seven Year Itch on Island, a comeback in masterful style rather than an oldies retread; Deep In The Night was reissued on Bullseye Blues '96. Mystery Lady '94 on Private Music was a tribute to Billie Holiday; single 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' was a surprise UK hit on MCA '96; then Love's Been Rough On Me '97 on Private Music had a country flavour, produced by Barry Beckett, who played keyboards on her '60s Muscle Shoals sessions. 'You can call it country,' she said, '...call it whatever you like. It's just me.' She was scathing about Leonard Chess's musical judgement (quoted by Arnold Shaw) and Chess never paid any royalties, but she said '97 she forgave him everything because he'd looked after her during the roughest part of her life. |