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Etta James

21 quotesJazz Musician · Born Jan 25, 1938 · Died Jan 20, 2012 · United States Of America · Female

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". 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. James's powerful, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, but was removed from that list in the 2011 "Special Collector's Edition" update. 2Early life and career: 1938–1959 Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was 14 at the time. Her father has never been identified. James speculated that she was the daughter of pool player Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, whom she met briefly in 198

All Childhood (11)Child (11)Memory (6)Childhood Memories (6)mother (5)Memories (4)Children (4)parent (4)Life (3)young (3)Family (3)Personality (3)father (3)remember (2)Mystery (2)

From “Go for It”

I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.

country gospel Blues rhythm Jazz

From “Beyoncé Knowles”

Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.

Child Childhood Children Personality Attitude

From “Rage to survive”

You might look at me and say, Hey, there's a happy kid; a little hyper, a little rambunctious, but happy all the same. And so there I was, humming along, when suddenly Dorothy would pop up out of the blue, snatch me up, and take me along on one of her lost weekends.

Happy Hyper kid Child childhood home

I just clung closer to her and knew the boogeyman couldn't get me, not as long as Mama held me in her arms, not as long as I didn't think about the little girl who had been cut up and stuffed in a trunk -- only a block away from our house -- the one crime that freaked me out when I was still very…

boogeyman Fear afraid of failure Scared mother

I was afraid of the boogeyman until I was fourteen or fifteen. The boogeyman was the devil who could appear in any form. Before I went to sleep, I had to look under my bed. The boogeyman was death and death was the greatest fear of all.

boogeyman devil demon Childhood Fear

One mother was nurturing while the other was neurotic; one father was missing -- the eternal mystery -- while the other, who wasn't my father but the one I called Daddy, was around. He was a good man who liked his liquor.

mother father nurturing neurotic Missing

All this insanity has made me wonder whether craziness was in my blood.

crazy Insanity craziness Wonder Think

"Girl," Willie said to me one time, "you look just like your papa. You're the spitting image of Minnesota Fats."

Minnesota resemblance parent Child father

I've tried to put the pieces together. I wish I could prove it by trotting out blood tests, but I can't. All I can do is tell you the story I believe, the one I've heard from people who were there and should know.

pieces explanation Memory Past Childhood

Didn't like being fenced in -- not then, not now.

fenced in fence Trap trapped Restriction

I was as curious as the devil. Couldn't have been older than sixteen months when I started wandering out of the house by myself. I was a handful. Had to be kept on a short leash.

Memory Memories Childhood Childhood Memories Child

I remember Mama poured me milk and tried to show me how to drink from a cup, but I wouldn't wait. I didn't want to be shown anything. I took the cup and spilled the milk all over me.

mother mama Childhood Childhood Memories Memory

Cozie and James also noticed my musical nature when I was still an infant. They said I was fixated on jukeboxes. I'd toddle over and point to one particular song -- "Honky Tonk Train Blues" by Meade Lux Lewis, a hot boogie-woogie instrumental. I'd holler until someone put a nickel in the box and…

Music Musical Nature Personality like

Sounds weird, but I have memory flashes of being slipped into bureaus, where I'd pick up my little head and peek out to survey the scene. I've always been a peeker, eager to check out the world.

Memory flashes dream bureau government

Hey, that could be the story of my life--no brakes.

Life speed Fast brakes Impulsive

But good ol'Uncle James, he had a heart. He talked her into it. It was Uncle James who told me about the night I was born. Driving Dorothy to the hospital, his raggedy old car didn't have any brakes. He had to ride around and around in circles until the car slowed down. Hey, that could be the story…

heart talk hospital Birth Experience

Cozie could be cold-blooded. Even though my name, "Jamesetta," was formed from "James" (her husband) and "Cozetta," she didn't want to adopt me. She thought I'd hurt her business.

cold-blooded name adopt Adoption Child

But in this life she was a light-brown-skinned beauty who wore short skirts and fishnet hose and platform shoes with ankle straps.

beauty Beautiful Appearance skin brown

But whose child was I? The question was there when I was born. It's still there. The question haunts me, worries me, troubles my sleep. You wouldn't think it would matter after all this time, but it does. Something deep inside me needs to know.

Child Question Birth Origin born

I had two mothers, two childhoods, lived two different lives in two different cities. Maybe that's why I became two different people.

mother parent Child Children Childhood

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