James, Etta (originally, Hawkins, Jame-Setta)

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James, Etta (originally, Hawkins, Jame-Setta)

James, Etta (originally, Hawkins, Jame-Setta), one of the greats of 1950s R&B who made one of the great comebacks of the 1980s; b. Los Angeles, Jan. 25, 1938. Her mother was 15 when Jamesetta Hawkins was born. Their landlord agreed to raise the young girl, giving her singing and piano lessons. They brought her to church, where she joined the choir at five. Soon the greater L.A. area heard young Jamesetta and the choir on the radio. In her teens, she and two other girls formed a vocal group and wrote an answer song to Hank Ballard’s “Work with Me Annie.” Called “Roll with Me Henry,” they performed it for Johnny Otis one night. He took a shine to 15-year-old Jamesetta. He and his wife took her in and started mentoring her. First he took her first name and inverted it, dubbing her Etta James. Then he recorded “Roll with Me Henry,” though for commercial reasons they retitled it “The Wallflower.” It topped the R&B charts for four weeks in 1955, but a “white” cover of it by Georgia Gibb prevented James’s record from crossing over. Ironically, she saw more songwriter royalties for the Gibb version than she did from her recording.

She continued touring and recording with Otis for another three years, landing one more hit with “Good Rockin’ Daddy.” In 1958, she was literally cut adrift in St. Louis, managed to get bus fare to Chicago and wound up in the office of Leonard Chess. At Chess she worked with The Moonglows’ Harvey Fuqua and others, producing a spate of crossover, jazz- tinged, soulful ballads, including “All I Could Do Was Cry” (#33, 1960), “My Dearest Darling” (#34, 1960), “Trust in Me” (#30, 1961), “Don’t Cry Baby” (#39, 1961), “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” (#37, 1962), “Stop the Wedding” (#34, 1962) and “Pushover” (#25, 1963).

The hits stopped coming in the mid-1960s. For one thing, James had developed a serious heroin habit. For another, she found little challenge in the material she had been recording. Only “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” hinted at the power and grit she could generate.In 1967, she went down to Muscle Shoals Alabama, and with their legendary rhythm section cut the barn-burning “Tell Mama,” which hit #23 in 1967, and the legendary ballad “I’d Rather Go Blind.” Her run of Top 40 hits stopped with 1968’s #35 cover of Otis Redding’s “Security.” By the early 1970s, she was more notorious for her addiction than her performing. A run-in with the law left her with the choice of jail or rehab, and by the mid- 1970s she had quit heroin. She signed with Warner Bros., who put her back into Muscle Shoals with Jerry Wexler for “Deep in the Night.” However, a stint on the road opening for The Rolling Stones left her with a taste for cognac and cocaine. She finally retreated back to L.A. and got completely clean and sober in the early 1980s.

A letter to L.A. mayor Tom Bradley landed James a slot performing for millions worldwide at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She cut two live albums with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, The Late Show and The Early Show, which allowed her to explore her blues and jazz chops in front of an audience. She followed this with a searing performance in Taylor Hackford’s 1987 Chuck Berry tribute film Hail Hail Rock and Roll.Her 1988 album Seven Year Itch brought her back to Muscle Shoals, earning her critical plaudits. Her subsequent Sticking to My Guns, a more technologically informed album with a rap by Def Jeff, was less successful. She worked with Wexler again on her 1993 The Right Time album. That same year, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The following year, she won Best Jazz Vocalist for her tribute to Billie Holiday, Mystery Lady.In 1996, James went into the British Top 10 with a reissue of her version of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” used in an English television ad. She continued recording and performing with renewed vigor through the 1990s.

Discography

Miss Etta James (1961); Second Time Around (1961); At Last (1961); Etta James (1962); Sings for Lovers (1962); Twist with (1962); Top Ten (1963); Rocks the House (live; 1964); The Queen of Soul (1965); Call My Name (1966); Tell Mama (1968); Funk (1970); Losers Weepers (1971); Etta James (1973); Peaches (1973); Come a Little Closer (1974); Etta Is Betta Than Evah (1978); Deep in the Night (1980); Changes (1978); Chess Masters (1981); Good Rockin’Mama (1981); Etta: Red Hot ’n’ Live (1982); Tuff Lover (1983); Good Rockin’ Mama/Tuff Lover (1985); R&B Queen (1986); Early Show, Vol.1: Blues in the Night (1986); Late Show, Vol. 2: Live at Maria’s Memory…(1986); Etta James on Chess (1988); The Sweetest Peaches, Pt. 2 (1988); The Gospel Soul of Etta James (1989); Seven Year Itch (1989); Stickin’ to My Guns (1990); Tell Mama, Vol.1 (1991); The Right Time (1992); Back in Blues (1992); I’d Rather Go Blind (1992); Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday (1994); Live from San Francisco (1994); Live (1994); Time after Time (1995); Respect Yourself (1997); Love’s Been Rough on Me (1997); Hickory Dickory Dock (1998); Life, Love and the Blues (1998); 12 Songs of Christmas (1998); The Heart of a Woman (1999).