EARTH ~

Etta James

(1938 ~ 2012 )

Ah, what a harsh week for R & B — to lose two master acts & lives days apart — Johnny Otis and Etta James, old friends, and that they now bunk bed the obituary file for the New York Times and The Guardian (U.K.) all we can say is let the music roll.

Everyone, including me, loves early Etta James on the Chess label, unbeatable. I'm choosing a song here from one of her last recordings, when she'd been to hell and back and was still creating gems of blues and soul and straight talk like no one else.

"Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938. Her mother, Dorothy Hawkins, was 14 at the time; her father was long gone, and Ms. James never knew for sure who he was, although she recalled her mother telling her that he was the celebrated pool player Rudolf Wanderone, better known as Minnesota Fats. She was reared by foster parents and moved to San Francisco with her mother when she was 12."





Minnesota Fats





quote: ny times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/arts/music/etta-james-singer-dies-at-73.html?hp