Etta james who is her father

She recalled the next few years as the lowest part of her life, struggling to get gigs to pay the rent. It wasn't until , after treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic, that she finally beat her addiction and released Seven Year Itch, an album that was a showcase for a new, more raunchy style of singing.

In the music industry awarded her her first Grammy for a collection of Billie Holliday songs, Mystery Lady. Her warts and all autobiography, A Rage to Survive, was published in And still the awards came. A Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in , was followed by another Grammy in for the album, Let's Roll and yet another in , for Blues to the Bone. But while she had beaten the drugs, her later career was dominated by struggles with her weight which, at one time, had reached around 27 stone.

For several years she could only appear on stage in a wheelchair. Eventually she underwent a gastric bypass procedure and lost nearly 14 stone. The year-old girls met musician Johnny Otis. Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name to the Peaches and gave the singer her stage name reversing Jamesetta into Etta James. She recorded and co-author,"Dance with Me, Henry" in When her contract with Modern came up in , she decided to sign with Leonard Chess' namesake label, Chess Records, and shortly afterwards got involved in a relationship with singer Harvey Fuqua , founder of the doo-wop group, The Moonglows.

Her debut album, At Last! It has become the most remembered version of the song. After signing with Chicago's Chess Records in , James' career began to soar. In Chess took her to the Fame studios to record with the Muscle Shoals house band.

The collaboration resulted in the triumphant Tell Mama album. James continued to work with Chess throughout the s and early s. After signing with Chicago's Chess Records in , James' career began to soar.

James continued to work with Chess throughout the s and early '70s. Sadly, heroin addiction affected both her personal and professional life, but despite her continued drug problems she persisted in making new albums.

In , James recorded with the Muscle Shoals house band in the Fame studios, and the collaboration resulted in the triumphant Tell Mama album.

James' work gained positive attention from critics as well as fans, and her album Etta James earned a Grammy nomination, in part for its creative combination of rock and funk sounds. A renewed public profile followed her appearance at the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympics in With suggestive stage antics and a sassy attitude, James continued to perform and record well into the s.

Always soulful, her extraordinary voice was showcased to great effect on her recent private releases, including Blue Gardenia , which rose to the top of the Billboard jazz chart. In , James underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost over pounds. The dramatic weight loss had an impact on her voice, as she told Ebony magazine that year.

That same year, James released Let's Roll , which won the Grammy Award for best contemporary blues album. This team regrouped for her next effort, Blues to the Bone , which brought James her third Grammy Award — this time for best traditional blues album. She participated in a tribute album the following year for jazz great Ella Fitzgerald , called We Love Ella.

When paired with the right producer and material, she delivered superb albums: Seven Year Itch , Matriarch of the Blues and even her swansong The Dreamer find her interpreting lyrics with grace and venom. In James recorded Mystery Lady, the first in a series of jazz vocal albums where she channelled the influence of Billie Holiday. This brought her to yet another audience. James won six Grammy awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Having finally conquered her drug addiction in , she began to struggle with her weight — in , weighing more than lb, she had gastric bypass surgery and lost lb, which allowed her to return to active singing and performing. The young superstar made a decent job of portraying her as a foul-mouthed, two-fisted singer, yet lacked the raging bull quality that made James so unforgettable.

James publicly criticised her, then later offered an apology, suggesting that she was upset not to have been invited to sing herself. She added that she would have sung the song better. Rage to Survive, James's autobiography, was published in and proved as blistering as her singing. Etta James obituary. Blues and soul singer with a raw, emotional vocal style.