James performed at the top jazz festivals in the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, 1989, 1990 and 1993. Thank you for saying what I have been thinking for years. That year, James's influence was everywhere, with avariety of black female singers (including Turner, Gladys Knight and Candi Staton) employing her defiant, abrasive vocal style. (portrayed by Alessandro Nivola)[14] which are also fictional accounts of the ascent (and descent) of the label itself and the personnel who were involved or recorded at Chess Records. In 1989, she signed with Island Records and with them released the albums Seven Year Itch and Stickin' to My Guns, both of which were produced by Barry Beckett and recorded at FAME Studios. During Ettas early days at Chess, she was very open in having a relationship with Harvey Fuqua, member of the Moonglows and later played a pivotal role in the formation of Motown Records. Of these, Howlin' Wolf in particular became very popular, and Chess Records had to vie for him with other companies which had also been supplied with Wolf recordings by Phillips. Here her powerhouse contralto voice was matched with the sumptuous, bluesy string arrangements of Riley Hampton, and James truly came into her own as a singer. [61][62] Her death came three days after that of Johnny Otis, the man who had discovered her in the 1950s. I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, [38], James was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2011. Teamed with Joplin's collaborator Gabriel Meckler in 1973, James began to record rock songs: mauling the Eagles, slugging Randy Newman. (He is, however, a central player in Jerry Zaks' Who Do You Love, the other Chess bio that had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.) The movie is certainly being marketed as a Chess tell-all; the soundtrack, due December 5, counts among its offerings Chess standards recut by the film's actors, including Jeffrey Wright's woefully slight version of Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man"; Mos Def's coy, sly take on Chuck Berry's "No Particular Place to Go"; and three tracks by Beyonc Knowles, whose purr never comes close to approximating Etta James' growl. [50], James was married to Artis Mills from 1969 until her death in 2012. [3] He was buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois. Though Etta had a mother figure in an older woman affectionatelynamed Mama Lu, Ettas life spiraled after her death. All you need to Know about Revetta Sloan's Husband Leonard Chess In 2008, James was portrayed by Beyonc Knowles in the film Cadillac Records, a fictional account of Chess Records, James's label for 18 years, about how label founder and producer Leonard Chess helped the careers of James and others. While Hollywood may try their best, her story is more brilliant and compelling than any writer could create. [42] James has influenced a wide variety of musicians, including, notably, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera, Janis Joplin, Brandy, Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Beth Hart, Hayley Williams of Paramore[43] and Brent Smith of Shinedown[44] as well as British artists The Rolling Stones,[45] Elkie Brooks,[46] Paloma Faith,[47] Joss Stone,[48] Rita Ora, Amy Winehouse, and Adele,[49] and the Belgian singer Dani Klein. The film stars Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess, Cedric the Entertainer . [1] 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. In 1967 Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, sent. In May 2009, she received the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation, the ninth time she won that award. James publicly criticised her, then later offered an apology, suggesting that she was upset not to have been invited to sing herself. James participated with the rap singer Def Jef on the song "Droppin' Rhymes on Drums", which mixed James's jazz vocals with hip-hop. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Thirty-six days after her death, her sideman Red Holloway also died.[63]. [24] Also in 1989 James was filmed in a concert at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles with Joe Walsh and Albert Collins for the film Jazzvisions: Jump the Blues Away. By 1998, with the release of Life, Love & the Blues, James had added as backing musicians her own sons, Donto and Sametto, on drums and bass, respectively. In a world filled with smoke and mirrors, it always inspires me to see and experience artists who exude a powerful sense of truth. What did Etta James say about Leonard Chess? [19] After signing with Chess Records in 1960, James broke through as a traditional pop-styled singer, covering jazz and pop music standards on her debut album, At Last! "Something's Got a Hold on Me" is a song by American singer Etta James. For instance, while the film plays heavily on a romantic relationship with Chess Records head, Leonard Chess, this information was never once mentioned in Ettas autobiography. King when she was 16. 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. Who was the co-founder of Chess Records? Glad you enjoyed it! In fact, as truly great as that song is, James recorded another that was even betterand its one she co-wrote, although, for tax reasons, she gave songwriting credit to her then boyfriend. Two other Berry tunes are included in this collection, the rollicking Number One (which cleverly references Henry as a bygone lover) and the stridently plaintive Im A Fool. James herself co-authored both the playfully sensual W-O-M-A-N and the high-octane Tough Lover, easily the equal of any of Little Richards thundering hits. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. In 1954, she moved to Los Angeles to record The Wallflower. Her career had begun to soar by 1960, due in no small part to songs like Id Rather Go Blind and At Last.. Meet the Team What did Leonard Chess son say about Etta James? Cadillac Records begins with Dixon laying the foundation of the story, introducing us to "one white boy from Chicago" (Chess, first seen mid-coitus) and "one sharecropper from Mississippi" (Waters, tilling the soil). Many of the much deserved tributes to appear so far have singled out her most famous single, the great At Last, enormously popular at weddingsand famously sung by Beyoncto Barack and Michelle Obama upon his inauguration as president (possibly still, somewhat regrettably, my favorite moment from the entire Obama presidency). James was raised by friends and relatives instead of her mother through most of . [28] In 1987, she performed "Rock and Roll Music" with Chuck Berry in the documentary film Hail! These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blues, and rock and roll . Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Though the record was not as successful as expected, her rendition has become the best-known version of the song. Most gallingly, for a film "based on a true story," there doesn't seem to be a single fact contained within writer-director Darnell Martin's ham-fisted fiction, which renders pre-rock musical history as yet another downer soap opera bloated with smack and sex and premature corpses, as though that's all that defined the period and the people. Hail! Like the song says, I just dont want to be free. When Leonard Chessthe founder of Jamess label, Chess Recordsfirst heard the song, James says, he got up and left the room cause he started crying When he came back in the room, he said, Etta, its a mother its a mother.. As a teenager on tours with Otis, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Ike and Tina Turner and Little Richard, James encountered and quickly embraced much debauchery. According to Marshall Chess, son of Leonard Chess, he had these words to say concerning the issue of this affair: "Now, my father was no angel, but (he) was never caught in an affair," Chess said. 1 Did Leonard Chess really die in his car? She notched up such hits as All I Could Do Was Cry, If I Can't Have You and AtLast. How many children did Leonard Chess have with Revetta Sloan? It opens with James rather notorious Roll With Me Henry, recorded when she was just 16. I was blind in my love life, and I was blind in my personal ways. However when you fully inhale the intricacies of Ms. Jamess defiant nature and understand the surrounding issues that followed her life and compare them to Beyonces persona and acting range, it just doesnt scream a perfect match. On October 16, 1969, a few months after selling his namesake label to General Recorded Tape, Leonard Chess died of a heart attack. Her funeral was presided over by the Reverend Al Sharpton and took place in Gardena, California eight days after her death. Theyoung superstar made adecent job of portraying her as a foul-mouthed, two-fisted singer, yet lacked the raging bull quality that made James sounforgettable. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". He was the co-founder of the legendary Chess Records label, which was responsible for signing and starting the careers of some of music's biggest stars. [9], James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at the St. Paul Baptist Church in South-Central Los Angeles. Her final album for Private Music, Let's Roll, released in 2005, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Rock 'n' Roll.) Group, a Graham Holdings Company. She announced that this would be her final album. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Chess Records began after Phil and Leonard acquired full ownership of Chicago-based Aristocrat Records in 1950, Leonard having bought an initial share in it in 1947. (A far better place to start would be Nadine Cohodas' 2001 book, Spinning Blues Into Gold, about the Chess Brothersyes, both of them.) and currently resides in Atlanta, GA as a Georgia Peach. Having finally conquered her drug addiction in 1988, she began to struggle with her weight in 2002, weighing more than 400lb, she had gastric bypass surgery and lost 200lb, which allowed her to return to active singing and performing. I agree, the Etta James story needs no embellishment. During this period, she became addicted to methadone and would mix her doses with heroin. Also along for the ride are Chess' and Waters' women, Revetta (Entourage's Emmanuelle Chriqui) and Geneva (Gabrielle Union), respectively, who do little other than quietly frown and tolerate their husbands' myriad dalliances. [10] Her mother was frequently absent from their apartment in Watts, conducting relationships with various men, and James lived with a series of foster parents, most notably "Sarge" and "Mama" Lu. James referred to her mother as "the Mystery Lady". Tell Mama's B-side was I'd Rather Go Blind, a brooding, agonised ballad ofloss and jealousy which now stands asJames's most celebrated recording and one of the classic sides of soul music. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. [57] He was released from prison in 1981. have a nice afternoon! [15] At this time Otis also gave James her stage name, transposing "Jamesetta" (her given first name) into "Etta James. After leaving jail in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1969, she met and married Artis Mills. Music industry historian John Broven has written that "Leonard Chess was the dynamo behind Chess Records, the label that, along with Atlantic and Sun, has come to epitomize the independent record business. She continued recording for Private Music, which released the blues album Matriarch of the Blues in 2000, on which she returned to her R&B roots. According to Marshall Chess, son of Leonard Chess, he had these words to say concerning the issue of this affair: Now, my father was no angel, but (he) was never caught in an affair, Chess said. The tracks crossover potential was limited by more than just its sexually charged lyrics. [19] That same year, James was the opening act for the Rolling Stones and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Another version, performed by Christina Aguilera, was in the 2010 film Burlesque. The song was written by James, Leroy Kirkland and Pearl Woods, while production was handled by Leonard and Phil Chess.It was released in 1962 as the third single from her 1962 self-titled album as a 7" vinyl disc.Musically, "Something's Got a Hold on Me" is an R&B track with elements of soul, blues and gospel. Stories on how they met vary. Dec 4, 2008. On October 16, 1969, a few months after selling his namesake label to General Recorded Tape, Revetta's husband Leonard Chess died of a heart attack. [34] She performed six times at the North Sea Jazz Festival, in 1978, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993. Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. 4 What did Leonard Chess son say about Etta James? [77] Her albums Life, Love, & the Blues (1999), Burnin' Down the House (2003), and Let's Roll (2004) were awarded Soul/Blues Album of the Year,[77] and in 2001 she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.[71]. The album set a trend of incorporating more jazz elements in James's music. In February 1955, the song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart. In 1989, the newly formed Rhythm and Blues Foundation included James in their first Pioneer Awards for artists whose "lifelong contributions have been instrumental in the development of Rhythm & Blues music". [19] After a couple of years of minor hits, James's career started to suffer after 1965. As the 1960s progressed, Chess's recording enterprise branched out into other genres including gospel, traditional jazz, spoken word, comedy, and more. James's continuing appeal to new generations was proved when the R&B superstar Beyonc played James in the 2008 film Cadillac Records. Howlin Wolf guitarist was a huge inspiration for the Stones The funeral for Chicago blues great Hubert Sumlin, the longtime guitar player for Howlin Wolf who died Sunday at age 80, will be paid for by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Thank you, Wayne. James was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame a full eight years before her 2001 inclusion in the Blues Hall of Fame. James' 1973 album, exhibiting a mixture of musical styles, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Hope West isamusic enthusiast and music photographer who has captured artists like B.B. The life of Ms. Etta James is as fascinating as her voice, complicated as her vocal interpretations and raw as her passion. Following this brief success, however, she left Chess Records and did not record for another ten years while she struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism. James has received six Grammy Awards. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. All rights reserved. We talked about what it felt like being abandoned by a mother. What happened to the owner of Chess Records? 2 What happened to the owner of Chess Records? This brought her to yet another audience. [12], James frequently performed in Nashville's famed R&B clubs on the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.[13]. Musician Bobby Murray toured with James for over 20 years. He helped sign (and then performed with) Black Merda, a Detroit outfit that has been described as the first all black rock band, and which has built a cult following during the last decade. [19] The first string-laden ballad James recorded was "My Dearest Darling" in May 1960, which peaked in the top five of the R&B chart. Janis Joplin modelled her singing closely on James and covered Tell Mama. [16] Its success also gave the Peaches an opening spot on Little Richard's national tour.[17]. The trauma of her foster father forcing her to sing under these humiliating circumstances caused her to have difficulties with singing on demand throughout her career. In 1973, James was arrested for possession of heroin. She later got married again to Abner Bernard Spector. For those of you whove never read the the autobiography of Etta James, Rage To Survive, I stronglyencourage you tocheckout thisbook. [56] In 1969, she spent 10 days in jail for violating probation.[51]. [73] In 2003, she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The New York Times went so far as to describe James as the Powerful Voice Behind At Last in the headline of the papers obituary. And he continues to record, it seems; here is his fledgling Facebook page. The album took the same direction as her first, covering jazz and pop standards and with strings on many of the songs. Everything. Etta was definitely one of the greats! Leonard Chess (March 12, 1917 October 16, 1969) was an American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. In particular, her song "Something's Got a Hold on Me" has been recognized in many ways. She carried on touring but by 2010 had to cancel concert dates because of her gradually failing health; by this time she was suffering from dementia and leukemia. So in conclusion, when I think of an artist whos invested 58 years in writing and singing songs that come from the real chapters of her life, it seems only fitting that she have the honor of a real depiction. Etta James: The Essential Modern Records Collection (Virgin/EMI) includes 15 tracks spanning 1954-57. But as early as 1954, James was, under the guidance of Johnny Otis, pivotal among the artists erecting musical signposts for Elvis, Jerry Lee and others who would follow. Who was Harvey Fuqua dating before Etta James? Join the Observer community and help support Well, thats a good question especially when Ms. Jamess book was published in 1995, 13 years before the release of the movie, Cadillac Records. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Cadillac Records is a 2008 American biographical drama film written and directed by Darnell Martin.The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-company executive Leonard Chess, and a few of the musicians who recorded for Chess Records.. The 1974 album Come a Little Closer, recorded while she was in rehab at apsychiatric hospital, features James at her best. James continued to record for Chess (now owned by All Platinum Records), releasing one more album in 1976, Etta Is Betta Than Evvah! 6 Who was the co-founder of Chess Records? It does not store any personal data. The same sample was used by the east coast rapper Flo Rida in his 2011 hit single "Good Feeling". The Slate Group LLC. When her contract with Modern came up for renewal in 1960, she signed a contract with Chess Records instead, with which she would go on to become one of the label's earliest stars. Early life [19] Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess envisioned James as a classic ballad stylist who had potential to cross over to the pop charts and soon surrounded the singer with violins and other string instruments.