American R&B singer Etta James, a.k.a. Jamesetta Hawkins, a.k.a. Miss Peaches, was born in Los Angeles in 1938. She died 73 years later and 60 miles away in Riverside, California, but her life stretched far beyond those miles or even those years. She sang with power and intention; she was not afraid to be gritty or dirty or unstructured, to trill and growl and explore the nooks and crannies of her vocal chords. She had no fear whatsoever, or so it seemed to me at age 10, when I first heard the song "At Last." Ten years later, when I auditioned for American Idol (season 7, in case you're wondering), that's the song I chose to audition with. I didn't make it on the show, but I walked away feeling like I did my best, and that Etta guided me through it. Her voice, at once new and inventive and invigorating, is also comforting, an asylum from the clatter of pop for the past 50 years and, I imagine, for at least 50 more.
Of course, I have not been alone in my admiration of the late James. Her vocal styling range is astonishing; she can pull off the sweet "At Last" as well as this raunchy version of 1963's "Something's Got a Hold on Me." And so she's revered in many circles and many music genres: she won 6 Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards, and she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1993), the Blues Hall of Fame (2001), and the Grammy Hall of Fame (1999 and 2008). Rolling Stone named her one of the top 25 singers of all time.
Etta James was versatile, powerful, and truthful. In this song, she is at her finest in the last minute, singing scat, as well during as the semi-a cappella intro -- which you may recognize from the radio, as the unfortunately resilient Flo Rida has a single out right now called "Good Feeling" that samples from this song (though not the Etta James version). That soulful sample clip is taken from this intro: "Sometimes I get a good feeling, I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no." While that's the only saving grace in the Flo Rida song, here it's just the appetizer for a full five minutes of a decidedly happy blues song -- and how could she not be so happy, with such new and exciting emotions of love coursing through her, urging her to sing it out?
Etta James left behind an impressive discography of 58 singles, 28 studio albums, 3 live albums, and 6 compilations -- and with all that she only reached #1 once, in 1955 with the song "The Wallflower," which she recorded with her back-up singers "The Peaches" before embarking on a solo career:
It's far from her best song, but I do think it is fascinating to hear how much she grew as a vocalist between this1955 release and her flurry of 1960's releases, two in 1961 alone. As a soloist, she thrived on the freedom to define a song's shape and substance. When she was in full control of phrasing, tempo, dynamics, and so forth -- control that, by the time she was churning out records at a rate of 7 a decade, she demanded simply by setting foot in the room -- that's when she was capable of singing that would take the breath out of the room. Even if you aren't much into the blues, you cannot ignore the impressive control she had over her voice, the way she threw herself about with her vocal chords, landing on this note and that, taking her time to get to the point -- because really, what else could you watch that would be more penetrating, more moving?
Despite a glittering career, James' voice was all the more soulful for the difficulties she endured. She and her husband both suffered with heroin and painkiller addictions. Near the end of her life, James was diagnosed with both Alzheimer's and leukemia, the latter of which was terminal. She died with her husband and two sons -- as well as the love of millions of fans and fellow musicians -- at her bedside. She obviously had a hold on something.
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