Etta James -

Etta James (Jan. 25, 1938 — Jan. 20, 2012) was an American soul singer who cut a string of singles for Modern Records during the mid-1950s, charting with “The Wallflower.” Between 1960 and 1970, she released 10 albums on the Chess subsidiaries Argo and Cadet, scoring hits with “At Last,” “Tell Mama,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” “I’d Rather Go Blind,” and her signature song, “I Just Want to Make Love to You.”

Background

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Dorothy Hawkins, was 14 at the time of her birth. Maternal aunt Cozetta and uncle James served as her first legal guardians before Dorothy placed the infant with foster parents Lula and Jesse Rogers.

Lula Rogers enrolled Hawkins in ballet and drama classes and took her to St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Hawkins joined the church’s Echoes of Eden choir at age five, studied singing with choirmaster James Earle Hines, and took piano lessons from Hines’ wife. Her childhood solos reached listeners through the church’s weekly radio broadcasts.

After Lula Rogers died in 1950, relatives moved the 12-year-old Hawkins to San Francisco. She attended Girls High School in the Fillmore district before school officials transferred her to continuation school. Hawkins met Jean Mitchell at a recreation center near her relatives’ housing project and began singing with Mitchell and her older sister Abysinia “Abye” Mitchell.

Hawkins formed the Creolettes with the Mitchell sisters in 1953. The trio performed jazz songs and contemporary harmony-group material at record hops and amateur shows around San Francisco. After the Midnighters appeared at one record hop with “Work With Me, Annie,” Hawkins developed the answer song “Roll With Me, Henry” for the Creolettes’ act.

Abye Mitchell approached bandleader Johnny Otis at the Primaline Ballroom in San Francisco and secured an audition for the trio. Otis brought the Creolettes to Los Angeles and arranged a Modern Records session on Thanksgiving Eve in 1954. Richard Berry took the male part on “Roll With Me, Henry,” and Otis renamed the group the Peaches while reversing Jamesetta into the stage name Etta James.

Modern retitled the song “The Wallflower” for its January 1955 release. The single reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart and sent James and the Peaches onto the road with the Johnny Otis Show. James continued without the original Peaches on “Good Rockin’ Daddy,” which reached the R&B Top 10, and recorded further Modern singles through the middle of the decade. Touring work carried her through the national R&B circuit while later Modern sessions took her to Cosimo Matassa’s New Orleans studio.

John Lewis became James’ manager in 1957. James met Moonglows leader Harvey Fuqua on a Washington, D.C., bill and later recorded with him for Modern under the name Betty & Dupree. Fuqua’s connection with the Moonglows brought James into the Chess Records circle in Chicago, where Leonard Chess bought out her Modern contract and signed her to the company.

James joined the Moonglows personnel on background parts for Chuck Berry’s February 1959 recordings of “Almost Grown” and “Back in the U.S.A.” at Chess’ Chicago studio. She began her own Argo sessions in January 1960 with “All I Could Do Was Cry,” followed by “My Dearest Darling” and Chess duets with Fuqua. James entered further Argo sessions with arranger Riley Hampton before Chess issued her debut album At Last!.

Discography: