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John Peel Wiki
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Etta James

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Etta James (1938-2012) was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California. She had an extremely dysfunctional upbringing, as her mother had a string of relationships and thus she was never entirely certain of her father's identity. Her raw and powerful voice was recognised in church from an early age, but due to being continually woken up and beaten by one of her caregivers to perform at drunken parties, she retained a lifelong reluctance to sing on demand.

She formed her own all-girl doo-wop group, the Peaches, in the mid-50s and came to the attention of Johnny Otis, who secured the girls a record deal. James branched out into solo recording with the R&B hit 'Dance With Me Henry' in 1955: this secured her band a support spot with Little Richard. James' first solo LP was recorded in 1960 and notably featured 'I Just Want To Make Love To You' (covered by the Rolling Stones on their eponymous début) and 'At Last,' a radically reworked version of a 40s hit for Glenn Miller. Its sweeping strings and stratospheric vocals cemented the image of James as a torch singer, although she encompassed many other styles.

ETTA_JAMES_-_I_JUST_WANT_MAKE_LOVE_TO_YOU

ETTA JAMES - I JUST WANT MAKE LOVE TO YOU

"I Just Want To Make Love To You' became a chart hit many years after the fact due to its use in a commercial.

Her career began to decline in the late 60s, although she was still in demand as a concert performer and claimed to have written 'I'd Rather Go Blind,' which became a sizeable UK hit for Top Gear favourites Chicken Shack. After an opening spot for the Stones and an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1978, she left her then current label Chess and, due to her problems with drugs and alcoholism, ceased recording throughout most of the 80s. Her career experienced a resurgence in the early to mid 90s, and further critically acclaimed recordings followed. She was portrayed by Beyonce Knowles in the 2008 film Cadillac Records, something which she appeared not entirely comfortable with (if her comments on stage and in interviews are taken into account).

In her final years she suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and died in January 2012 of leukaemia. Peel saw her live at the peak of her success in 1960 at the Big D Sportatorium in Dallas, where he noted he was one of a handful of whites in an otherwise black audience [1], and again in London in 1978, [2], just before her retreat from the limelight. John praised her performance:

"She was really excellent...she's as good as three other people, pick any three you like....I do hope Warner Brothers records are going to treat Etta James with the respect she deserves, because she can reduce most other people into the sharply reduced to clear racks."

He then played 'Piece Of My Heart,' a song familiar from a rendition by Janis Joplin. The LP from which that track came ('Deep In The Night') was an indication of James' ability to reach out to other audiences, as it contained a large proportion of rock songs from the likes of Alice Cooper, Kiki Dee and Allen Toussaint. JP played her records intermittently throughout his time on air, and singled out 'Stop The Wedding' (and Ann Cole's answer record 'Don't Stop The Wedding') as an example of a tradition he would like to see revived: in fact, 'Dance With Me Henry' was an 'answer' record to Hank Ballard's 'Work With Me Annie.'

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(JP: 'What a marvellous voice, again. I hate to keep saying that, but I keep saying it because it's true....She really was sensational.')

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Footnotes
  1. ↑ See 12 October 1999.
  2. ↑ See 11 July 1978.
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