Etta James
Etta James
Etta Jameswas 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 drug addiction, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBlues Singer
Date of Birth25 January 1938
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I don't care who's playing. Even if it's my favorite artist, I'm probably not gonna go and see him.
I am so happy that I am alive and can walk.
You know, YOUR President, the one with the big ears-he ain’t my President – had that woman singing for him at his Inauguration. She’s going to get her [expletive] whooped. How dare Beyonce sing MY song that I been singing forever. Now I’m going to sing it for y’all…
In some ways, it's my rage that keeps me going,
When I'm singing the blues, I'm singing life.
People always say 'Etta, you know what your problem is? You're neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.' When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.
I’ve learned to live with rage. In some ways, it’s my rage that keeps me going. Without it, I would have been whipped long ago. With it, I got a lot more songs to sing.
And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.
Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.
It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.
My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble!
Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.
My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy,
I sing the songs that people need to hear.