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January 25, 2012
Page 13
Passionate Etta James Remembered
Legendary
singer was
embodiment of
refined soul
(AP) — Etta James' performance
of the enduring classic "At Last"
was the embodiment of refined soul:
Angelic-sounding strings harkened
the arrival of her passionate yet
measured vocals as she sang ten­
derly about a love finally realized
after a long and patient wait.
In real life, little about James was
as genteel as that song. The plati­
num blonde’s first hit was a saucy
R&B number about sex, and-she
was known as a hell-raiser who had
tempestuous relationships with her
family, her men and the music indus­
try. Then she spent years battling a
drug addiction that she admitted
sapped away at her great talents.
The 73-year-old died on Friday
from complications of leukemia.
"It's a tremendous loss for her
fans around the world," said her
manager Lupe De Leon. "She'll be
missed. A great American singer.
Her music defied category."
James' spirit could not be con­
tained — perhaps that's what made
her so magnetic in music; it is surely
what made her so dynamic as one of
R&B, blues and rock 'n' roll's under­
rated legends.
"The bad girls... had the look that
I liked," she wrote in her 1995 auto­
biography, "Rage to Survive." "I
wanted to be rare, I wanted to be
noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a
Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted
to be obvious as the most flamboy­
ant hooker on the street. I just wanted
to be."
Despite the reputation she culti­
vated, she would always be remem­
bered best for "At Last." The jazz-
inflected rendition wasn't the origi­
nal, but it would become the most
famous, and the song that would
define her as a legendary singer.
Over the decades, brides used it as
their song down the aisle and car
companies to hawk their wares, and
it filtered from one generation to the
next through its inclusion in movies
like "American Pie." Perhaps most
famously, President Obama and the
first lady danced to a version at his
inauguration ball.
The tender, sweet song belied
the turmoil in her personal life. James
— bom Jamesette Hawkins — was
bom in Los Angeles to a mother
whom she described as a scam art-
President Barack Obama at a campaign event Thursday at the
Apollo Theatre in Harlem. (AP Photo)
Soul Singer in Chief
Etta James (left) and Beyonce arrive at the 2008 premiere of
"Cadillac Records " at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Calif.
Etta James in 1965.
ist, a substance abuser and a fleet­
ing presence during her youth. She
never knew her father, although she
was told, and had believed, that he
was the famous billiards player Min­
nesota Fats. He neither confirmed
nor denied it: when they met, he
simply told her: "I don't remember
everything. I wish I did, but I don't."
She was raised by Lula and Jesse
Rogers, who owned the rooming
house where her mother once lived.
The pair brought up James in the
Christian faith, and as a young girl,
her voice stood out in the church
choir. James landed the solos in the
choir and became so well known,
she said that H ollyw ood stars
would come to see her perform.
But she wouldn't stay a gospel
singer for long. Rhythm and blues
lured her away from the church, and
she found herself drawn to the grit­
tiness of the music.
"My mother always wanted me
to be a jazz singer, but I always
wanted to be raunchy," she recalled
in her book.
James recorded a string of hits in
the late 1950s and '60s including
"Trust In Me," "Something's Got a
Hold On Me," "Sunday Kind of
Love," "All I Could Do Was Cry,"
and of course, "At Last."
In 1967, she cut one o f the most
highly regarded soul album s of all
time, "Tell M ama," an earthy fu­
sion o f rock and gospel music
featuring blistering horn arrange­
m en ts, fu n k y rh y th m s and a
churchy chorus. A song from the
album , "Security," was a top 40
single in 1968.
Her professional success, how­
ever, was balanced against personal
demons, namely a drug addiction.
"I was trying to be cool," she told
the AP in 1995, explaining what had
led her to try heroin.
After recovering, Jam es per­
formed well into her senior years,
and it was "At Last" that kept bring­
ing her the biggest ovations.
But it was superstar Beyonce
who serenaded the Obamas, not the
legendary singer. Beyonce had por­
trayed James in "Cadillac Records,"
a big-screen retelling o f Chess
Records' heyday, and had started to
claim "At Last" as her own.
(AP)— President Barack Obama
took a brief and unexpected turn as
a soul singer at a New York
fundraiser, crooning a bar from an
A1 Green classic, and then joking
that he hadn't been ushered off­
stage.
It happened at M anhattan's
Apollo Theater on Thursday, when
the Commander in Chief stepped to
the podium and veered from pre­
pared remarks to thank Green for
warming up the crowd.
A pparently not content with
simply praising him, Obam a sud­
den ly lau n ch ed in to G re en 's
"Let's Stay Together," starting
with the vibrato "I" and pausing
for enthusiastic applause before
finishing up with the line "so in
love with you."
Obama said his staff didn't be­
lieve he'd really do it.
Then he joked that the Sandman
hadn't come out — a reference to
Sandman Sims, the tap dancer who
chased unpopular acts offstage at
the Apollo for decades.
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