Etta James

Born Los Angeles, California mid-1930's
A singer with great vitality and the ability to modify her style as musical trends changed, Etta James remained a favority of rhythm & blues followers for decades. Among R&B female vocalists, only Dinah Washington and Ruth Brown have had more top 10 hits from the early 1950's to the early 1970's.
Like dozens of other soul stars, Etta James was brought to the limelight by Johnny Otis who had seen her playing the Fillmore in San Francisco in the early 1950's. While getting her financial feet on the ground, Etta stayed with Otis and his girlfriend where she penned "Roll With Me Henry" which became a hit when released by Modern Records.
During the mid-1950's Etta became one of the most popular members of Johnny Otis' show and had two more hits on Modern.
At the start of the 1960's, she signed a contract with Chess Records and began a new and more rewarding phase of her career. It was during this time that she had such hits as "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", and "If I Can't Have You", a duet with Harvey Fuqua (of Harvey and the Moonglows). On these cuts, her singing had a more gospel and blues content rather than the rough, strident inflections of old-time R&B.
In the mid-1960's her career was plagued by drug addiction. For months at a time she would be sidelined. But through it all she kept going and working when she could.
Her last album for Chess was cut in 1977 "Etta is Betta Than Evah". It was not a great album, but complied with the requirements for terminating her contract.
In the 1980's she played small clubs and special concerts.