She was born Jamesetta Hawkins to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins and an unknown white father, although James maintained he was the pool shark Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and was raised at first in Los Angeles by adoptive parents. From the age of five, she sang gospel in the local church and later acknowledged the influence of the choirmaster, Professor James Earl Hines.
Etta James
(January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind".
She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
James's powerful, deep, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
[Whoa. There are many Etta James collections out there. The standard-bearers thus far have been the Chess Box and the Essential Etta James. This set attempts to do something else and goes deep into her catalog to dig out the gems from her years with Modern, Argo, Cadet, Chess, Warner Brothers, Island, and Private Music/BMG, and presents the full spectrum of her five-decade career.
As such, there are many different kinds of songs here revealing the complexity of the vocalist herself, and as such, thus becomes a real portrait of the artist. Juxtapose, for instance, early sides like "The Wallflower Dance (Dance With Me Henry)," with its wild R&B bravado and the deep soul-blues of "All I Could Do Is Cry," the balladry of "The Man I Love," the bone-crushing blues of "The Sky Is Crying," and the torch song ballad technique on "My Dearest Darling," and the despairing soul inherent in songs such as "All the Way Down," and the listener begins to get an idea of just how vast and deep James talent really is.
These 23 cuts give a fine and full picture of all that diversity without sacrificing a note of quality. This is a fine introduction to James for those listeners who have become acquainted with her in recent years, and a decent look at the later material for those cynical purists who think it was over and done by 1970.
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek]
Etta James, who has died aged 73 after suffering from leukaemia, was among the most critically acclaimed and influential female singers of the past 50 years, even if she never achieved huge popular success. From her first R&B hit, in 1955, the risqué Roll With Me Henry – cut when she was only 15 – through a series of classic 1960s soul sides (the lush ballad At Last, the raucous house rocker Tell Mama and the emotional agony of I'd Rather Go Blind), then a series of critically acclaimed 1970s and 1980s albums that won her a broad rock audience, to more recent albums of jazz vocals, James proved capable of developing and changing as an artist.
Her approach to both singing and life was throughout one of wild, often desperate engagement that included violence, drug addiction, armed robbery and highly capricious behaviour. James sang with unmatched emotional hunger and a pain that can chill the listener. The ferocity of her voice documents a neglected child, a woman constantly entering into bad relationships and an artist raging against an industry and a society that had routinely discriminated against her.
In 1967 Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, sent James to Alabama to record at Fame studios with the producer Rick Hall. The resulting sessions produced the roaring Tell Mama, which took her back to the R&B top 10. Tell Mama's B-side was I'd Rather Go Blind, a brooding, agonised ballad of loss and jealousy which now stands as James's most celebrated recording and one of the classic sides of soul music. James wrote or co-wrote several of her greatest songs.
James never again enjoyed a major US hit, although she continued to record strong material. Perhaps her voice, so raw and emotionally expressive, was too fierce for the general public. Indeed, hurt, anger and self-destructive behaviour boiled beneath the surface of her vocals. Once asked to describe her style, she responded that singing allowed her to vent "all this bitch shit inside of me".
Tracklist
01. The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry)
Backing Vocals – Abbye Mitchell, Jean Mitchell
Baritone Saxophone – Big Jim Wynn
Drums – Johnny Otis
Trumpet – Don Johnson
Vocals [Male] – Richard Berry
Written-By – Etta James, Hank Ballard, Johnny Otis
02. Good Rockin' Daddy
Written-By – Joe Josea, Richard Berry
03. W-O-M-A-N
Written-By – Dorothy Hawkins, Etta James
04 .All I Could Do Is Cry
Written-By – Berry Gordy, Jr., Billy Davis , Gwen Gordy
05. If I Can't Have You
Vocals – Harvey Fuqua
Written-By – Etta James, Harvey Fuqua
06. My Dearest Darling
Written-By – Edwin Bocage, Paul Gayten
07. At Last
Written-By – Harry Warren , Mack Gordon
08. Don't Cry Baby
Written-By – Jimmy Johnson, Saul Bernie, Stella Unger
09. A Sunday Kind Of Love
Written-By – Anita Leonard, Barbara Belle, Louis Prima, Stan Rhodes
10. Trust In Me
Written-By – Jean Schwartz, Milton Ager, Ned Wever
11. Something's Got A Hold On Me
Bass – Reggie Boyd
Drums – Al Duncan
Guitar – Matt Murphy
Piano – John Young
Written-By – Etta James, Leroy Kirkland, Pearl Woods
12. Stop The Wedding
Producer – Ralph Bass
Written-By – Freddy Johnson, Leroy Kirkland, Pearl Woods
13. Pushover
Written-By – Tony Clarke
Written-By, Producer – Billy Davis
14. Tell Mama
Written-By – Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell
15. I'd Rather Go Blind
Written-By – Billy Foster, Ellington Jordan
16. Security
Bass – David Hood
Organ – Barry Beckett
Piano – George Davis
Saxophone – James Mitchell
Written-By – Margaret Wesson, Otis Redding
17. All The Way Down
Congas – King Errison
Drums – Kenny Rice
Guitar – Ken Marco
Keyboards – William D. Smith
Written-By – Catherine C. Williamson, Trevor Lawrence
Written-By, Producer – Gabriel Mekler
18. Take It To The Limit
Arranged By [Strings & Horns] – Jimmy Haskell
Backing Vocals – Gilbert Ivey, Henry Jackson , Joyce Austin, Merry Clayton, Reuben Franklin
Drums – Jeff Porcaro
Electric Piano – Keith Johnson
Lead Guitar – Cornell Dupree
Leader [Backing Vocals], Arranged By [Vocals] – Alexander Hamilton
Percussion – Tom Roady
Piano, Organ – Richard Tee
Producer – Jerry Wexler
Rhythm Guitar – Larry Carlton
Slide Guitar – Brian Ray
Written-By – Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner
19. Damn Your Eyes
Arranged By [Sax and Horns] – Jim Horn
Bass – Bob Wray, Willie Weeks
Guitar – Kenny Greenberg, Reggie Young, Steve Cropper
Written-By – Barbara Wyrick, Steve Bogard
20. Whatever Gets You Through The Night
Backing Vocals – Ashley Cleveland, Carol Chase, Dobie Gray, Jonell Mosser, Thomas Cain
Keyboards – Jim Pugh
Lead Guitar [Overdubbed] – Arik Marshall
Producer [Additional] – Etta James, Kim Buie
Rhythm Guitar – Danny Rhodes, Gary Burnette, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges
Synthesizer – Mike Lawler
Written-By – Bucky Lindsey, Carson Whitsett, Dan Penn
21. The Man I Love
Bass – Tony Dumas
Drums – Ralph Penland
Piano, Arranged By – Cedar Walton
Producer – John Snyder
Saxophone – Red Holloway
Written-By – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
22. I've Been Loving You Too Long
Acoustic Guitar – Don Potter
Backing Vocals – Curtis "Mr. Harmony" Young*, Dennis Wilson , Donna McElroy, John Wesley Ryles, Louis Nunley, Vicki Hamilton*, Yvonne Hodges
Drums – Eddie Bayers
Guitar – Brent Rowan, Dann Huff
Horns – The Southside Horns
Keyboards – Steve Nathan
Percussion – Terry McMillan
Steel Guitar – Paul Franklin
Written-By – Jerry Butler, Otis Redding
23. The Sky Is Crying
Guitar – Brian Ray
Producer – Donto James, Etta James, Josh Sklair, Sametto James
Written-By – Clarence Lewis, Elmore James, Morgan Robinson
Etta James – The Definitive Collection
Label: Geffen Records – B000401002, Chronicles – B000401002, UMe – B000401002
Series: The Definitive Collection
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: Canada
Released: 2006
Genre: Soul, Blues
Manufactured By – Universal Music Canada Inc.
Distributed By – Universal Music Canada Inc.
Remastered At – Universal Mastering Studios West
Credits
Arranged By [Orchestra], Conductor – Riley Hampton (tracks: 4 to 10)
Art Direction – Vartan
Backing Vocals – Jesse Belvin (tracks: 2, 3), Richard Berry (tracks: 2, 3), The Dreamers (tracks: 2, 3)
Bass – Chuck Rainey (tracks: 17, 18), Michael Rhodes (tracks: 20, 22)
Compilation Producer – Andy McKaie
Computer [Fairlight III] – Carl Marsh (tracks: 19, 20)
Design – t42design
Drums – Leard Bell (tracks: 2, 3), Roger Hawkins (tracks: 14 to 16, 19, 20)
Electric Bass – David Hood (tracks: 14, 15)
Executive Producer – Pat Lawrence
Guitar – Albert Lowe, Jr. (tracks: 14 to 16), Jimmy Ray Johnson (tracks: 14 to 16), Josh Sklair (tracks: 21, 22)
Horns – Jim Horn (tracks: 19, 20, 22), The Horn Section (tracks: 19, 20)
Liner Notes – Alice James, Etta James
Orchestra – Maxwell Davis Orchestra (tracks: 2, 3)
Organ – Carl Banks (tracks: 14, 15)
Organ, Piano – Dewey Oldham (tracks: 14, 15)
Photography [Coordination] – Ryan Null
Photography By [Cover] – Jim McCrary
Piano – Devonia Williams (tracks: 1 to 3)
Producer – Maxwell Davis (tracks: 1 to 3), Rick Hall (tracks: 14 to 16)
Producer, Keyboards – Barry Beckett (tracks: 19, 20, 22)
Product Manager – Adam Starr
Production Manager – Beth Stempel
Remastered By [Digitally] – Erick Labson
Saxophone – Aaron Varnell (tracks: 14 to 16), Charles Chalmers (tracks: 14 to 16), Floyd Newman (tracks: 14, 15), Maxwell Davis (tracks: 2, 3)
Trumpet – Gene "Bowlegs" Miller (tracks: 14 to 16)
