Rest in Peace, Miss Peaches: Legendary Etta James, Talented Jazz/R&B Singer & Grammy Winner, Has Died, Losing Her Battle with Leukemia (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 20, 2012
1968 cover of 'Tell Mama' album: Grammy-winning R&B/jazz singer Etta James has passed away at age 73
Legendary Etta James has been ill for quite some time, but I still feel a sense of sadness reading that she passed away this morning. Her difficult, oft-times tragic life story, of overcoming her heroin addiction, has been horrifying, yet inspirational.
Etta’s magical, distinctive, powerful voice will always be timeless. So many have copied or adopted her unique styles of jazz, rhythm & blues, rock, funk, and gospel, including the late Janis Joplin.
James was 73 years old, would have turned 74 next week — she passed away today in a California hospital from compilations from leukemia. She also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C.
Rest in peace, Miss Peaches, and may God bless you.
Associated Press: Legendary Blues Singer Etta James Dies
From CNN, Singing legend Etta James dies at 73:
Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as “The Wallflower,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” and the wedding favorite “At Last,” has died, according to her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.
She died from complications from leukemia with her husband, Artis Mills, and her sons by her side, De Leon said.
She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010, and also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C. James died at a hospital in Riverside, California. She would have turned 74 Wednesday.
“This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world,” De Leon said. “She was a true original who could sing it all — her music defied category.
“I worked with Etta for over 30 years. She was my friend and I will miss her always.”
The powerhouse singer, known as “Miss Peaches,” lived an eventful life. She first hit the charts as a teenager, taking “The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)” — an “answer record” to Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me, Annie” — to No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1955. She joined Chess Records in 1960 and had a string of R&B and pop hits, many with lush string arrangements. After a mid-decade fade, she re-emerged in 1967 with a more hard-edged, soulful sound.
Throughout her career, James overcame a heroin addiction, opened for the Rolling Stones, won six Grammys and was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite her ups and downs — including a number of health problems — she maintained an optimistic attitude.
“Most of the songs I sing, they have that blue feeling to it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don’t know what I’m sorry about,” she told CNN’s Denise Quan in 2002. “I don’t!”
Etta James was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2003 - it is located at 7072 Hollywood Blvd, not far from stars honoring Isabel Sanford, Cole Porter, and Mac Davis
Etta James – At Last
From Newsday, Blues singer Etta James dies at 73:
Etta James, the fiery blues singer known best for her uncharacteristically sweet ballad “At Last,” died Friday morning in Riverside, Calif., after a long battle with chronic leukemia. She was 73.
One of the first women inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, James began her career in 1954, at the age of 15, with her group The Creolettes and the racy-for-its-time hit “Roll With Me Henry.” Her bold delivery and powerful voice quickly separated her from the crowd, as did her groundbreaking choice of material, leading Atlantic Records’ producer Jerry Wexler to call her “the greatest of all modern blues singers.”
“This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world,” longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon told CNN. “She was a true original who could sing it all — her music defied category.”
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind
From Chicago Sun-Times, Legendary blues singer Etta James dies at 73:
The storms of life bring clarity to a song.
And music is where Etta James found shelter.
Mrs. James died early Friday at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, Calif., of complications from leukemia, according to her manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.
She also had been suffering from dementia and kidney problems. In December, her physician announced that her leukemia was terminal and asked for prayers for the singer.
Mrs. James’ husband, Artis Mills, and her two sons were at her side when she died, De Leon said.
“It’s a tremendous loss for her fans around the world,” De Leon said. “She’ll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category.”
Mrs. James’ best known song was the ballad “At Last,” recorded in 1961, just after she signed with Argo, a subsidiary of Chicago’s Chess Records. With her measured contralto, Mrs. James surrendered to the dynamics of an entire relationship: the wanting, the discovery and renewal. The journey was arduous. And she was at the finish line.
“At Last” was also a crucial record in the lexicon of Chess as it moved the label from a blues imprint (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf) to pop.
Chicago’s Club De Lisa saxophonist Riley Hampton had been recruited to create the lush arrangements with string sections that had never been used at Chess. The label hit the jackpot, counterpointing Hampton’s sweet pop strings with Mrs. James’ direct blues-jazz style.
[...]
Mrs. James was born on Jan. 25, 1938, as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles. Her mother was a teenaged African-American. She never knew her father and liked to speculate he was the famous pool player Minnesota Fats. Mrs. James was reared by her grandparents and caregivers. She grew up and toured with the late Johnny “Guitar” Watson and was discovered in 1951 by West Coast bandleader Johnny Otis.
Like the doo-wop singers of the era, Mrs. James was singing on street corners of Los Angeles and as an underage act in California nightclubs as a member of the Creolettes. The all-girl trio peformed in sparkling gowns with long fish tails, high hair, and big attitudes.
After seeing the group, the colorful Otis renamed them Peaches and turned Mrs. James first name around (from Jamesetta to Etta James). He co-wrote her first hit, 1955’s seminal rock n’ roll classic, “Roll With Me Henry,” that was deemed too suggestive for radio airplay. Georgia Gibbs cleaned it up and had a 1955 pop hit. In 2008 Mrs. James received a Grammy for her version.
Mrs. James’ no-nonsense template had been set.
She would roll through life’s punches.
Mrs. James would encounter leukemia, obesity, gastric bypass surgery, dementia and hepatitis C. Marshall Chess, son of Chess co-founder Leonard Chess, was fascinated with Mrs. James’ cigarette burn tattoos. Her heroin addiction was so bad that when her veins collapsed, she shot smack into her forehead.
“Music was a way for her to get away from the pain,” said Chicago-based Chess session man Gene Barge, who arranged and produced several of Mrs. James’ singles including her majestic 1970 ballad “Losers Weepers.” “There’s adversity, rejection and not getting some of the money you think you should get which was another reason for her to withdraw. It slowed her down, but she was a great singer that made singers take notice. Like Janis Joplin and others who emulated her style.
From Washington Post, Etta James, Grammy-winning blues singer with pop appeal, dies:
Etta James, a Grammy Award-winning singer whose forceful renditions of “At Last,” “I’d Rather Go Blind,” “Tell Mama” and “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” made her a widely admired musical interpreter of love and pain and one of the first rhythm-and-blues singers with a large mainstream following, died Jan. 20 at a hospital in Riverside, Calif. She was 73.
Her death was confirmed to the Associated Press by her manager, Lupe De Leon.
Ms. James was reported to have been diagnosed with dementia and leukemia, a form of cancer. Her illnesses were made public as part of a court battle between her husband and her children concerning $1 million of the singer’s fortune, in part to cover her health expenses.
Ms. James attracted a broad following in the 1960s with her interpretations of jazz-inflected pop. Many of her songs, especially her 1961 string-backed version of the big-band-era pop standard “At Last,” are frequently heard on film and television soundtracks.
She influenced later generations of singers from Janis Joplin to Bonnie Raitt, who called her “the bridge between R&B, blues and pop singing. . . . Like Ray Charles, Etta brought the passion of gospel, R&B and gutbucket raw soul music into the mainstream in a way that very few people have ever crossed over.”
In this next music video of her hit “Ask Mama,” Etta James performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1989 with The Roots Band.
Etta James – Tell Mama | 1989 Montreux Jazz Festival
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I was so sad to hear about Etta’s passing away. She’s in a better place now & her music lives on.