Etta James

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January 25, 1938

Jamesetta Hawkins

Artis Mills (1969 - Jan. 21, 2012)

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1960 At Last!

1961 The Second Time Around

1962 Etta James Sings Songs for Lovers

1963 Etta James Top Ten

1965 The Queen of Soul

1966 Call My Name

1968 Tell Mama

1970 Etta James Funk

1971 Looser, Weepers

1973 Etta James

1974 Come a Little Closer

1978 Etta is Betta Than Evah

1978 Deep in the Night

1989 Seven Year Itch

1990 Stickin' to My Guns

1992 The Right Time

1994 Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday

1995 Time After Time

1997 Love's Been Rough on Me

1998 Life, Love, & the Blues

1999 The Heart of a Woman

2000 Matriarch of the Blues

2001 Blue Gardenia

2003 Let's Roll

2004 Blues to the Bone

2006 All the Way

Actress

1995 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (TV series)

1989 Tap

1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Appearances

2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live: Feelin' Alright (video)

2009 Dancing with the Stars (TV series)

2007 Tavis Smiley (TV series)

2005 Austin City Limits (TV series documentary)

2002 Etta James and the Roots Band: Burnin' Down the House (video documentary)

1994-2002 Late Show with David Letterman (TV series)

1997 Record Row: Cradle of Rhythm and Blues (TV documentary) Narrator

1995 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV special)

1987 Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (documentary)

1987 Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues (TV special)

1987 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (TV series)

1987 The 29th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1982 Jammin' with the Blues Greats (video documentary)

1981 The Midnight Special (TV series)

1969 The Rosey Grier Show (TV series)

Billboard Music Awards

2006 Won Billboard R&B Founders Award

Blues Hall of Fame

2008 Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Classics of Blues Recordings - Albums for: Rocks the House (Argo LP, 1964; Chess CD with bonus tracks, 1994)

2001 Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Performer

Blues Music Awards

2007 Won Blues Music Award - Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year

2006 Won Blues Music Award - Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year

2005 Nominated Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year

2004 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year

2004 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues Album of the Year for "Let's Roll"

2003 Won Blues Music Award Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year

2002 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year

2001 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year

2000 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year

1999 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year

1997 Nominated Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues-Female Artist of the Year

1996 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues - Female Artist of the Year

1995 Won Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues-Female Artist of the Year

1995 Nominated Blues Music Award - Female Blues Vocalist of the Year

1994 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year

1994 Won Blues Music Award - Female Blues Vocalist of the Year

1993 Won Blues Music Award - Female Vocalist of the Year

1993 Won Blues Music Award - Soul/Blues Female Artist

1992 Won Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year

1991 Nominated Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues Female Artist

1989 Won Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues Female Artist

1989 Nominated Blues Music Award - Contemporary Blues Album (US) for: "Seven Year Itch"

1989 Nominated Blues Music Award - Blues Vocalist

BMI Film & TV Awards

2006 Won Lifetime Achievement Award

Grammy Awards

2005 Won Grammy Award Best Traditional Blues Album category for Blues to the Bone

2004 Won Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Album for: Let’s Roll

2003 Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Album for: Etta James & The Roots Band - Burnin' Down the House

2003 Nominated Lifetime Achievement Award

2002 Nominated Grammy Award Best Blues Album for: Matriarch of the Blues

2000 Nominated Grammy Award Best Vocal Performance for: Heart of a Woman

1999 Grammy Award Hall of Fame Nominee for: At Last

1999 Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Album for: Life, Love & the Blues

1995 Won Grammy Award Best Jazz Vocal for: Mystery Lady (Songs of Billie Holiday)

1993 Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Album for: The Right Time

1993 Nominated Grammy Award Best Performer

1991 Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Recording for: Stickin' to My Guns

1989 Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Blues Recording for: Seven Year Itch

1975 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for: St. Louis Blues

1974 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female

1969 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for: Security

1968 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for: Tell Mama Lyrics

1962 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Recording for: Fool That I Am Lyrics

1961 Nominated Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Performance for: All I Could Do Was Cry Lyrics

Image Awards

1990 Inducted into the Hall of Fame

National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters

2006 Lifetime Achievement Award

Rockabilly Hall of Fame

2001 Rockabilly Hall of Fame Inductee

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1993 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee

W.C. Handy Blues Foundation

2001 W.C. Handy Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame Inductee

Walk of Fame (Hollywood)

2003 star at 7080 Hollywood Blvd.

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Etta James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five years old, from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

James' family moved to San Francisco in 1950 and James soon teamed up with two other girls to form a Doo-wop singing group. When the girls were fourteen, band leader Johnny Otis had them audition: they sang an answer to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie" called "Roll With Me Henry." Otis particularly liked the song, and without her mother's permission, James and the trio went to Los Angeles to record the song in 1954. The song was recorded under the label Modern Records. By this time, the trio had renamed the song "The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)". I t was released in 1955. James named her vocal group The Peaches. Richard Berry, a Los Angeles Doo Wop luminary is featured on some of their records.

There are at least two versions of how Johnny Otis discovered Etta James. Otis's version is that she came to his hotel room after one of his performances in San Francisco and persuaded him to audition her (this is the version that Johnny tells to this day). Another frequently told story is that Otis spotted her performing in an L.A. nightclub with The Peaches and, having conceived of the answer song to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie," arranged with the Bihari brothers for Modern Records to record "The Wallflower" with James. "The Wallflower" reached number two on the R&B charts in February 1955 but was undercut in the wider market by a rushed-out cover version by Georgia Gibbs on Mercury Records. In fact, the very first time she was recorded in studio, they used the first take she recorded and it became number one on the top 100 songs in the nation. The song's royalties were divided between Hank Ballard, Etta James and Johnny Otis, and its huge success attracted the attention of the R&B world, resulting in James going on tour with Little Richard. On the tour, according to James, she witnessed and experienced situations to which minors are not usually privy.

Through the mid-‘50s James became a mainstay of Otis’ revue and scored another R&B hit with “Good Rockin’ Daddy” (#12, 1955). In 1960 she moved from Modern to Chess Records’ Argo subsidiary and the R&B hits began coming again: “All I Could Do Was Cry” (#2 R&B), “My Dearest Darling” (#5 R&B) and a duet as Etta and Harvey (with Harvey Fugua of Harvey and the Moonglows) entitled “If I can’t Have You” (#52 pop, #6 R&B). She also sang background vocals on Chuck Berry’s “Almost Grown” and “Back in the U.S.A.”.

James continued making R&B hits through the early ‘60s. In 1961 she had more Top 10 R&B hits with “At Last” (#2 R&B) and “Trust in Me” (#4 R&B) and in 1962 with “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” (#4 R&B)) and “Stop the Wedding” (#6 R&B). In 1963 she hit the pop chart with “Pushover” (#25 pop, #7 R&B), as well as “Pay Back” (#78), “Two Sides to Every Story” (#63) and “Would It Make Any Difference to You” (#64); 1964 brought “Baby, What You Want Me to Do?” (#82) and “Loving You More Every Day (#65).

In the ‘60s she developed a heroin addiction that lasted through 1974 and kept her much of the time in L.A.’s Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital. Still, she hit big with “Tell Mama” (#23 pop, #10 R&B, 1967), “Losers Weepers” (#26 R&B, 1970) and “I’ve Found a Love” (#31 R&B, 1972). Though she has not had any major hit records since ending her heroin addiction, James has remained a popular concert performer. She played the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977 and opened some dates for the Rolling Stones’ 1978 tour. “Seven Year Itch” was produced by keyboardist Barry Beckett, house keyboardist at Alabama’s legendary Muscle Shoals studio, where James had recorded such ‘60s R&B hits as “I’d Rather Go Blind”. She returned to Muscle Shoals to record “The Right Time”, which reunited her with Jerry Wexler (the longtime Aretha Franklin producer, who’d worked on James’ “Deep in the Night” album) and included a duet with Steve Winwood; shortly after the album’s release, James was inducted into the Rock and roll Hall of Fame. She won her first Grammy for 1994’s “Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday”. In 1995 she published her autobiography (co-written with David Ritz), “Rage to Survive”. James continues to record and perform to an ever-increasing audience and critical acclaim.

James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame both in 1999 and 2008.

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Passed away on January 20, 2012 at Riverside, California from complications of leukemia.

James had two sons, Donto and Sametto. Both started performing with their mother in 2003 – Donto on drums and Sametto on bass guitar.

Later in life, James struggled with obesity, reaching more than 400 pounds and often needing a wheelchair. In 2003, she underwent gastric bypass surgery and her weight dropped by almost half.

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