Etta James Biography, Songs. Discography, Albums and Awards

Etta James Biography

Who was Etta James? She was a vocal powerhouse American singer whose raw emotion and technical mastery redefined blues, soul, jazz, and rock and roll. Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, and was raised amidst instability that would scar and harden her.

Raised in effect by caretakers while her teenage mother came and went, young Jamesetta found a rock-solid anchor in the sanctuary.

At St. Paul Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles, choir director James Earle Hines taught her hard, breath, projection, and phrasing; at five she was a featured soloist on Los Angeles radio. That early musical conditioning was the foundation on which everything that came thereafter was built.

As a teenager in San Francisco, she gathered the Creolettes, was discovered for bandleader Johnny Otis, and adopted a stage name by reversing her given first name to Etta James.

With Otis she recorded The Wallflower, a response to Work with Me, Annie, and in 1955 the recording topped the R&B chart, bringing her into the national consciousness. By 1960 she was signed to Chess Records, where Leonard Chess supported her smoky contralto with lush string charts and classic material.

The debut album At Last! spawned the title song that would be her signature, plus standards such as a Sunday Kind of Love and I Just Want to Make Love to You.

The range broadened with gospel-charged singles such as Something’s Got a Hold on Me and Stop the Wedding, and in 1967 she took her sound deeper into Southern soul at FAME Studios, recording Tell Mama and the heart-wracked B-side I’d Rather Go Blind, a performance that sounds plucked straight from the heart in one take.

Throughout the 1970s she blended blues, funk, and rock, sharing bill with the Rolling Stones and a Grammy nomination, despite fighting heroin addiction, arrest, and lengthy stretches in rehab.

The comeback began in the late 1980s with Seven Year Itch and continued in respected albums that slipped easily between jazz ballad, contemporary blues, and old-school R&B. She won her first Grammy for Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday in 1994 and followed up later with Best Contemporary Blues Album for Let’s Roll and Best Traditional Blues Album for Blues to the Bone.

The awards flowed thereafter: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

On her journey, she influenced generations of great singers from Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt to Amy Winehouse and Adele, and her voice re-entered charts on contemporary tracks when producers sampled Something’s Got a Hold on Me for Avicii’s Levels and Flo Rida’s Good Feeling. Offstage she was the wife of Artis Mills from 1969 and raised two sons, Donto and Sametto, who were both later members of her group.

The later years were filled withhealth issues that included dementia and leukemia, yet she recorded a final studio album, The Dreamer, in 2011, and died on her own terms.

Etta James died in Riverside, California, on January 20, 2012, a few days short of her seventy fourth birthday, and her body of work that bridges church and nightclub, tenderness and strength, the suffering that she faced and the strength that she gave.

Etta James Top Songs

1. At Last
2. I’d Rather Go Blind
3. Tell Mama
4. Something’s Got a Hold on Me
5. A Sunday Kind of Love
6. All I Could Do Was Cry
7. Trust in Me
8. The Wallflower
9. Pushover
10. Security
11. Stormy Weather
12. I Just Want to Make Love to You
13. Seven Day Fool
14. Stop the Wedding
15. The Very Thought of You

Etta James Discography

1. At Last! (1960)
2. The Second Time Around (1961)
3. Etta James (1962)
4. Etta James Sings for Lovers (1962)
5. Etta James Top Ten (1963)
6. The Queen of Soul (1965)
7. Call My Name (1966)
8. Tell Mama (1968)
9. Etta James Sings Funk (1970)
10. Losers Weepers (1971)
11. Etta James (1973)
12. Come a Little Closer (1974)
13. Etta Is Betta Than Evvah! (1976)
14. Deep in the Night (1978)
15. Changes (1980)
16. Seven Year Itch (1988)
17. Stickin’ to My Guns (1990)
18. The Right Time (1992)
19. Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday (1994)
20. Time After Time (1995)
21. Love’s Been Rough on Me (1997)
22. Life, Love & the Blues (1998)
23. Heart of a Woman (1999)
24. Matriarch of the Blues (2000)
25. Blue Gardenia (2001)
26. Let’s Roll (2003)
27. Blues to the Bone (2004)
28. All the Way (2006)
29. The Dreamer (2011)

Etta James Top Albums

1. At Last! (1960)
   Her definitive introduction, blending jazz standards and R&B with the title track that became a timeless wedding anthem.
2. Tell Mama (1968)
   Recorded at FAME Studios, it captured her grit and range, pairing the punchy title cut with I’d Rather Go Blind.
3. The Second Time Around (1961)
   A velvet showcase for her early pop and jazz instincts, featuring Fool That I Am and Don’t Cry Baby.
4. Etta James (1973)
   A tough, genre-bending set that folded rock and funk into her blues core and earned a Grammy nod.
5. Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday (1994)
   A tender, late-career salute to Lady Day that won her first Grammy and reaffirmed her jazz credentials.
6. Life, Love & the Blues (1998)
   Groove-rich, road-tested blues with her sons in the band, showing command and warmth in equal measure.
7. Let’s Roll (2003)
   Modern blues with muscle and craft, honored with Best Contemporary Blues Album.
8. Blues to the Bone (2004)
   A return to raw basics that won Best Traditional Blues Album and reminded listeners of her deep roots.

Etta James Awards

1. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1993
2. Blues Hall of Fame inductee in 2001
3. Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003
4. Grammy wins for Mystery Lady in 1995, Let’s Roll in 2004, and Blues to the Bone in 2005
5. Grammy Hall of Fame recognition for At Last in 1999 and The Wallflower in 2008
6. Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Blvd in 2003
7. Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 1989
8. NAACP Image Award in 1990
9. Multiple Blues Music Awards including many honors as Soul and Blues Female Artist of the Year
10. Billboard R&B Founders Award in 2006

Etta James All Singles

Year	Single	US Hot 100	US R&B
1955	The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)	—	1
1955	Hey Henry	—	—
1955	Good Rockin’ Daddy	—	6
1955	W-O-M-A-N	—	—
1956	My One and Only	—	—
1956	Shortnin’ Bread Rock	—	—
1956	Tough Lover	—	—
1956	Good Lookin’	—	—
1957	The Pick-Up	—	—
1957	Come What May	—	—
1958	Sunshine of Love	—	—
1959	I Hope You’re Satisfied (with Harvey Fuqua)	—	—
1960	If I Can’t Have You (with Harvey Fuqua)	52	6
1960	Spoonful (with Harvey Fuqua)	78	12
1960	All I Could Do Was Cry	33	2
1960	My Dearest Darling	34	5
1961	At Last	47	2
1961	Trust in Me	30	4
1961	Fool That I Am	50	14
1961	Don’t Cry Baby	39	6
1961	Seven Day Fool	95	—
1962	Something’s Got a Hold on Me	37	4
1962	Stop the Wedding	34	6
1962	Fools Rush In	87	—
1962	Next Door to the Blues	71	13
1962	Would It Make Any Difference to You	64	—
1963	Pushover	25	7
1963	Pay Back	78	—
1963	Two Sides (To Every Story)	63	63
1964	Baby What You Want Me to Do	82	35
1964	Loving You More Every Day	65	7
1964	Breaking Point	—	—
1964	Mellow Fellow	—	34
1966	Only Time Will Tell	—	—
1967	I Prefer You	—	42
1967	Don’t Pick Me for Your Fool	—	—
1967	842-3089 (Call My Name)	—	—
1967	Tell Mama	23	10
1968	Security	35	11
1968	I Got You Babe	69	32
1968	You Got It	—	—
1969	Almost Persuaded	79	32
1969	Miss Pitiful	—	—
1969	Tighten Up Your Own Thing	—	—
1970	Sound of Love	—	—
1970	Losers, Weepers (Part 1)	94	26
1970	The Love of My Man	—	—
1971	I Think It’s You	—	—
1972	I Found a Love	—	31
1973	All the Way Down	—	29
1974	You Can Leave Your Hat On	—	76
1974	Out on the Street, Again	—	84
1976	Jump Into Love	—	92
1978	Piece of My Heart	—	93
1978	Sugar on the Floor	—	—
1980	Mean Mother	—	—