OBITUARY: R&B singer Etta James

R&B singer Etta James was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles and died on January 20, 2012, in Riverside, California

Etta James

R&B singer Etta James was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles and died on January 20, 2012, in Riverside, California

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ETTA James's feisty R&B vocal work anchored many hits and made the yearning ballad At Last an enduring anthem for weddings, commercials and even for US President Barack Obama.

Boldness was as much a trademark of James, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as her platinum-dyed mane.

She scored her first hit when she was just a teenager with the suggestive Roll With Me, Henry, which had to be changed to The Wallflower in order to get airplay.

Over the years she notched up many more hits, carving a niche for herself with her husky, soulful voice and her sassy attitude that permeated her songs.

But it was her jazz-inflected rendition of At Last that would come to define her and make her legendary. The song, which starts with sumptuous strings before James begins to sing, was a remake of a 1941 standard.

James made it her own, and her version became the new standard.

Over the decades, countless brides have used it as their song down the aisle, and it has been featured in car commercials and films such as American Pie, while President Obama and the First Lady danced to a version of it at his inauguration ball.

The tender, sweet song belied the turmoil that James - born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles - would endure for much of her life.

Her mother, whom she described in the autobiography Rage to Survive as an unstable scam artist and substance abuser, was a fleeting presence in her life during her youth.

She never knew her father, although she had been told he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. When she was older, she met him and asked about the rumour, which he refused to confirm.

Raised by the couple who owned the rooming house her mother once lived in, her voice stood out in the church choir even as a youngster. In time, even Hollywood stars would come to see her perform.

But she wouldn't stay a gospel singer for long. Rhythm and blues soon lured her away from the church.

"My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy," she recalled in her book.

She was doing just that when bandleader Johnny Otis found her singing on San Francisco street corners with a couple of girlfriends in the early 1950s.

"At the time, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters had a hit with Work With Me, Annie, and we decided to do an answer," she said in a 1987 interview.

"We didn't think we would get in show business, we were just running around making up answers to songs."

And so they replied to Ballard with the song Roll With Me, Henry.

When Otis heard it, he told James to get her mother's permission to accompany him to Los Angeles to make a recording. Instead, the 15-year-old went home and forged her mother's name on a note claiming she was 18.

"At that time, you weren't allowed to say 'roll' because it was considered vulgar. So when Georgia Gibbs did her version, she renamed it Dance With Me, Henry," James said.

After her 1955 debut, James toured with Otis's revue, sometimes earning only $10 a night.

Things changed for the better in 1959, when she signed with Chicago's legendary Chess label and began cranking out the hits and going on tours with performers such as Bobby Vinton, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Everly Brothers.

James went on to record a string of hits in the late 1950s and 1960s 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.

Her professional success, however, was balanced against personal demons, including drug addiction.

"I was trying to be cool," she once said in explaining what had led her to try heroin.

Addiction led to time behind bars and it sapped her singing abilities and her money, almost destroying her career.

It would take her at least two decades to beat her drug problem - her husband went to prison for years, taking full responsibility for drugs during an arrest, even though James was culpable.

She also struggled with her weight and often performed from a wheelchair as she got older and heavier.

James is survived by her husband Artis Mills and sons Donto and Sametto, who fought each other for control of her estate during her long decline from dementia and other illnesses.

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Associated Press