Jamesetta Hawkins
(January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012),
known professionally as
Etta James,
was an American
singer and songwriter.
Starting her career in 1954,
James frequently
performed in Nashville's
R&B clubs,
collectively known as
the Chitlin' Circuit,
in the 1940s,
1950s, and 1960s.
She sang in various genres,
including gospel,
blues,
jazz,
R&B,
rock and roll,
and soul,
and gained fame
with hits such as
"The Wallflower"
(1955),
"At Last"
(1960),
"Something's Got a Hold on Me"
(1962),
"Tell Mama",
and
"I'd Rather Go Blind"
(both 1967).
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
(1988).
James's deep and
earthy voice
is considered to
have bridged the gap
between R&B
and
rock and roll.
She won three
Grammy Awards
for her albums
and 1995
Best Jazz Vocal Performance,
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.
She also received
the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award
in 2003.
Rolling Stone magazine
ranked James
number 22
on its 2008 list
of the
"100 Greatest Singers
of All Time";
she was also
ranked number 62
in its list of the
"100 Greatest Artists
of All Time".
Billboard magazine's
2015 list of the
"35 Greatest R&B Artists
of All Time"
also included James,
whose
"gutsy, take-no-prisoner vocals
colorfully interpreted
everything from blues
and R&B/soul
to rock n’roll,
jazz and gospel."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
named her
"one of the greatest voices
of her century"
and
"forever the matriarch of blues"
No comments:
Post a Comment