Subscribe, 2023 Grown Folks Music. The Slate Group LLC. 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. She agreed, lied to him that she was 18 and, when he demanded her mother's signed consent, went home and forged it Dorothy was then in prison. Before joining the cast, Adrien took home the 2003 Oscar Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the 2002 film The Pianist.After his fantastic portrayal of Leonard in Cadillac Records, he went on to star in a plethora of films and TV series that include Midnight in Paris, Clean . Jamessang with unmatched emotional hunger and a pain that can chill the listener. [4] Around this time, she became involved in a relationship with the singer Harvey Fuqua, the founder of the doo-wop group the Moonglows. James became a natural replacement for Joplin after the latter's death in 1970. What did Etta James say about Leonard Chess? Former Artie Shaw vocalist Georgia Gibbs, signed to the far more powerful Mercury label, released a cleaned-up cover version, safely entitled Dance With Me Henry. It spent three weeks at number one on the pop charts. Its also an opportunity to mention her friend and co-writer, the far less famous Ellington Fugi Jordan. She quickly became known for having an unusually strong voice for a child her age. 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. On October 16, 1969, a few months after selling his namesake label to General Recorded Tape, Leonard Chess died of a heart attack. But in this version of the taletold in flashback, with overwrought narration provided by Cedric the Entertainer as Chess producer, session musician and house songwriter Willie Dixonthere is no Phil Chess, only Leonard, played by an actor, Adrien Brody, who, with his anachronistically tousled hair and Forever Fonzie wardrobe, looks as much like Leonard Chess as he does, well, Howlin' Wolf. When paired with the right producer and material, she delivered superb albums: Seven Year Itch (1989), Matriarch of the Blues (2000) and even her swansong The Dreamer (2011) find her interpreting lyrics with grace and venom. So heres to both Jordan and James, and to the great song they wrote together. At the age of 14, she met musician Johnny Otis. Leonard Chess - Wikipedia The alterations are distracting and head-scratching and ultimately dismissive, to the point where Wright's Muddy Waters is reduced to a mere spectator in his own story, just some guy who hangs around the Chess studios to glower at Howlin' Wolf and panhandle Chess for money. Hail! All rights reserved. Brussels music act Vaya Con Dios covered the song on their 1990 album Night Owls. [30] They were part of her touring band. [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. Hines abused James while she was under his tutelage; he often punched her in the chest while she sang to force her voice to come from her gut. Chess Records movie duel Part 2: Fact vs. fiction [61][62] Her death came three days after that of Johnny Otis, the man who had discovered her in the 1950s. Etta was definitely one of the greats! Among the women on that list, only Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner ranked higher. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The British pop singer Adele said that it was buying an Etta James CD when she was 13 that made her want to sing. James continued to perform on occasion in the early 1980s, including two guest appearances at Grateful Dead concerts in December 1982. 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. The Impact of Chess Records - Black Music Scholar The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". James possessed the vocal range of a contralto. 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. James has received six Grammy Awards. [19] After a couple of years of minor hits, James's career started to suffer after 1965. With that said, it greatly disappoints me that in light of her authenticity, this truth has failed to be depicted on the screens of Hollywood. I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will often come back She also often performed at free summer arts festivals throughout the United States. Our Mission [28] In 1987, she performed "Rock and Roll Music" with Chuck Berry in the documentary film Hail! [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. They're faint echoes of classics, soulless and gutless. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. What happened to the owner of Chess Records? About Us In 1967 Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, sent. [3] She also received a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2003. Confronting Satan in a Dark Spanish Castle, sung by Beyoncto Barack and Michelle Obama. [51] She was in the Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital for 17 months, starting at the age of 36, and went through a great struggle at the start of treatment. Thanks for a marvelous posting! [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. love music etta you one the great woman singer g. Etta was beautiful, dynamic, and such a Soulstress Of Epic Magnetism!! [19] Later that same year (1960), James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around. The album set a trend of incorporating more jazz elements in James's music. It never happened. He even asked James, a longtime friend, and she told him, He kissed me on the cheek once.. They quickly went to Chicago to join their father, Joseph, who was already engaged in the liquor business, which was illegal at the height of Prohibition and controlled in Chicago by Al Capone. The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. she has been hailed as a pioneer who helped bridge the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll and thereby contributed significantly to American musical history. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A Toast to 2018, the Year Movies Roared Back. Etta's crossed over!' 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). down the road. He also takes issue with the onscreen love affair between Leonard and Etta James. Sign in to continue reading, Christopher Loudon on the release of a new compilation of vintage material from the legendary singer. The Hollywood Blues: "Cadillac Records" | Vanity Fair Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. In 1992, she recorded the album The Right Time, produced by Jerry Wexler for Elektra Records. But you always knew that Read More Kelly Sill, Several years ago, one of Danilo Prezs students was suffering from tendinitis. It became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which angered James. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". For all its copious flaws, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story perfectly nailed the trajectory of every single rockudrama that has tarnished a legend's legendthe big bang turned sad whimper. Hail! [24] The album did not produce any major hits, however, and neither did the follow-up album, Come a Little Closer, in 1974, though, like '73's Etta James before it, the album was also critically acclaimed. Leonard and his brother Phil became involved in the black nightclub scene on the South Side of Chicago in 1938 running a series of jazz clubs, culminating in the Macomba Lounge. Her husband Artis Mills accepted responsibility when they were both arrested for heroin possession, and served a 10-year prison sentence. James' 1973 album, exhibiting a mixture of musical styles, was nominated for a Grammy Award. An elite fanclub ensured James sang at the Los Angeles Olympics opening ceremony in 1984, appeared in Taylor Hackford's celebrated Chuck Berry feature Hail! local news and culture, Robert Wilonsky 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. James countered with a coy follow-up called Hey! It opens with James rather notorious Roll With Me Henry, recorded when she was just 16. 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. James sang background vocals for her labelmate Chuck Berry on his "Back in the U.S.A."[20][21], Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied selection of music, from jazz standards to blues to doo-wop and rhythm and blues (R&B). What happened between Etta James and Leonard Chess? 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. In a world filled with smoke and mirrors, it always inspires me to see and experience artists who exude a powerful sense of truth. [39] James' original classic music again charted after these 21st-century re-interpretations. [35] She performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2006 and 2009 (prior 2012 credit - after date of death). After beginning to date Harvey Fuqua, a singer for the Moonglows, James signed with Argo Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records. For those of you whove never read the the autobiography of Etta James, Rage To Survive, I stronglyencourage you tocheckout thisbook. The film follows the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's greatest Negro . Many of the backing musicians were top-flight players from Los Angeles: Rick Rosas (bass), Michael Huey (drums), Ed Sanford (Hammond B3 organ), Kip Noble (piano) and Josh Sklair, James' longtime guitar player. 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. Thirty-six days after her death, her sideman Red Holloway also died.[63]. The label's many talents included Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Muddy Waters, Gene Ammons, Jimmy Rogers,. James formed a vocal trio, the Creolettes, with two teenage friends. [53] Both were musicians and eventually performed professionally with their mother; Donto played drums at Montreux in 1993, and Sametto played bass guitar circa 2003, among other performances and tours. The same sample was used by the east coast rapper Flo Rida in his 2011 hit single "Good Feeling". If youd like to share your comments about Etta James, or have suggestions for future installments of Hearing Voices, please email [emailprotected]. and currently resides in Atlanta, GA as a Georgia Peach. James believed that King's hit single "Sweet Sixteen" was about her. 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. The original title of the song was actually "Roll with Me, Henry", but it had been changed to avoid censorship at the time (roll implying sexual activity). Her approach to both singing and life was throughout one of wild, often desperate engagement that included violence, drug addiction, armed robbery and highly capricious behaviour. After a period of isolation, she returned to recording in 1967 and reemerged with more gutsy R&B numbers thanks to her recording at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It never happened. He even asked James, a longtime friend, and she told him, He kissed me on the cheek once.. Since 1989 (notably rather late in her career, after nearly thirty years of prior recording), James has received over 30 awards and recognitions from eight different organizations, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum[64] and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences which organizes the Grammys.[65]. Her records continued to chart in the R&B Top 40 in the early 1970s, with singles such as "Losers Weepers" (1970) and "I Found a Love" (1972). James was a star, yet one seemingly set on self-destruction. Love Ms. Etta James!! 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. So it is. Privacy Policy In her autobiography, Rage to Survive, she wrote that she heard the song outlined by her friend Ellington "Fugi" Jordan when she visited him in prison. [5][6] Billboard's 2015 list of "The 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" also included James, whose "gutsy, take-no-prisoner vocals colorfully interpreted everything from blues and R&B/soul to rock nroll, jazz and gospel. Her 1963 album EttaJames Rocks the House was recorded live at the New Era club in Nashville and documents a formidable performer. With everything so wrong, how can there be anything right about Cadillac Records? (modern), Etta James's approach to singing and to life was one of wild, desperate engagement. All contents [54], By the mid-1960s, James was addicted to heroin. 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. [42] The following year, 1990, she received an NAACP Image Award, which is given for "outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts;"[66] it was an award she cherished as it "was coming from my own people". [24] The B-side of "Tell Mama" was "I'd Rather Go Blind", which became a blues classic and has been recorded by many other artists. [19] That same year, James was the opening act for the Rolling Stones and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Enter a Melbet promo code and get a generous bonus, An Insight into Coupons and a Secret Bonus, Organic Hacks to Tweak Audio Recording for Videos Production, Bring Back Life to Your Graphic Images- Used Best Graphic Design Software, New Google Update and Future of Interstitial Ads. 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. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has We calculated our top 40 new releases of 2022 We calculated our top 10 historical/reissue You never quite knew what Chicago bassist Kelly Sill was going to play (or what he was going to say). The illness became terminal, and her husband Artis Mills was appointed sole conservator of the James estate and to oversee her medical care. Chess contacted Sam Phillips (of Sun Records) to help find and record new artists from the South. [71] Two other albums have also won awards, Let's Roll (Best Contemporary Blues Album) in 2003, and Blues to the Bone (Best Traditional Blues Album) in 2004. He was 95. "Shewas never there when I got off from school," James recalled, "so I could pretty much do what I wanted to do drinking, smoking weed." He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blues, and rock and roll. [22] The album included the future classics "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". Less than a year after selling their label, Leonard Chess was dead. Though Etta had a mother figure in an older woman affectionatelynamed Mama Lu, Ettas life spiraled after her death. In 2001, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the latter for her contributions to the developments of both rock and roll and rockabilly. Musician Bobby Murray toured with James for over 20 years. Etta James - Wikipedia 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. James won six Grammy awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 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. Appreciate your comment. Although there were no more 50s hits, she was a popular attraction in black America's working-class "chitlin' circuit" clubs. [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. In February 1955, the song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart. During her hospitalization, her son Donto revealed to the public that she had been previously diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008. Testimonials, Shipping and Returns Policy and help keep the future of the Observer, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, Dallas Observer's The Morning After Brunch. What are the 4 main characteristics is shared by all living things? [16][8], James signed with Private Music Records in 1993 and recorded a Billie Holiday tribute album, Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday. While Hollywood may try their best, her story is more brilliant and compelling than any writer could create. 3 Who was Harvey Fuqua dating before Etta James? In 1959 James signed with the Chicago blues label Chess, which began marketing her as the "Queen of Soul". "[7], The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame called hers "one of the greatest voices of her century" and says she is "forever the matriarch of blues. As Etta so candidly stated to the New York Posts Page Six in 2007, she is going to have a hill to climb, because Etta James aint been no angel!. But so egregious are the deficiencies and distortions herein this universe, The Rolling Stones came to the United States and The Beach Boys ripped off Chuck Berry long before anyone had ever heard of Elvis Presleythat it's almost impossible to discern whether there's anything decent about the moviemaking itself. [1][2][3][4] He and his brother, Fiszel, sister, Malka, and mother arrived in New York in 1928 from Poland. Leonard Chess (March 12, 1917 - October 16, 1969) was an American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. Record Producer, Music Executive. Video unavailable Watch on YouTube Watch on Here's one interesting reviews of this flick: Cadillac Records chronicles the success of Chess Records owned by shrewd business man Leonard Chess and the rise and fall of its Negro blues recording artists with race, sex, violence and drugs as the backdrop. In 1995 James recorded Mystery Lady, the first in a series of jazz vocal albums where she channelled the influence of Billie Holiday.
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