ETTA JAMES, THE GREATEST VOICE OF AMERICAN GENRES

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has decided to listen to some music, and she has chosen Jamesetta Hawkins, the American singer who was born on a day like today in 1938.

Etta was one of the greatest artists in her genre and her music is still a great gift for our hearts and our souls nowadays.

Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938-January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel.

Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as The Wallflower, At Last, Tell Mama, Something's Got a Hold on Me, and I'd Rather Go Blind.

She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.

James's powerful, deep, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

More information: Fresh Air Archives

Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was 14 at the time. Although her father has never been identified, James speculated that she was the daughter of pool player Rudolf Minnesota Fats Wanderone, whom she met briefly in 1987. Her mother was frequently absent from their flat in Watts, conducting relationships with various men, and James lived with a series of foster parents, most notably Sarge and Mama Lu. James referred to her mother as the Mystery Lady.

James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at the St. Paul Baptist Church, in South-Central Los Angeles. Under his tutelage, she suffered physical abuse during her formative years, with her instructor often punching her in the chest while she sang to force her voice to come from her gut. As a consequence, she developed an unusually strong voice for a child her age.

Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied selection of music, from jazz standards to blues to doo-wop and rhythm and blues (R&B). The album included the future classic I Just Want to Make Love to You and A Sunday Kind of Love.

In early 1961, James 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. Though the record was not as successful as expected, her rendition has become the best-known version of the song. James followed that with Trust in Me, which also included string instruments.

Later that same year, James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around. The album took the same direction as her first, covering jazz and pop standards and with strings on many of the songs. It produced two hit singles, Fool That I Am and Don't Cry Baby.

Following this success, James became an in-demand concert performer though she never again reached the heyday of her early to mid-1960s success. Her records 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).

James ventured into rock and funk with the release of her self-titled album in 1973, with production from the famed rock producer Gabriel Mekler, who had worked with Steppenwolf and Janis Joplin, who had admired James and had covered Tell Mama in concert. The album, known for its mixture of musical styles, was nominated for a Grammy Award.

The album did not produce any major hits; neither did the follow-up, Come a Little Closer, in 1974, though, like Etta James before it, the album was also critically acclaimed. James continued to record for Chess, now owned by All Platinum Records, releasing one more album in 1976, Etta Is Betta Than Evvah! Her 1978 album Deep in the Night, produced by Jerry Wexler for Warner Bros., incorporated more rock-based music in her repertoire.

More information: NPR

That same year, James was the opening act for the Rolling Stones and performed at the Montreux 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.

James continued to perform on occasion in the early 1980s, including two guest appearances at Grateful Dead concerts in December 1982.

James signed with Private Music Records in 1993 and recorded a Billie Holiday tribute album, Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday. The album set a trend of incorporating more jazz elements in James's music.

In April 2009, at the age of 71, James made her final television appearance, performing At Last on the program Dancing with the Stars.

In May 2009, she received the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation, the ninth time she won the award.

She carried on touring but by 2010 had to cancel concert dates because of her gradually failing health, after it was revealed that she was suffering from dementia and leukaemia.

In November 2011, James released her final album, The Dreamer, which was critically acclaimed upon its release. She announced that this would be her final album.

She died on January 20, 2012, five days before her 74th birthday, at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California.

More information: The Guardian

 You can't fake this music.
You might be a great singer or a great musician but,
in the need, that's got nothing to do with it.
It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.

Etta James