Etta James in Her Words, and Mine
Dear Diary,
Today I sat down with DePaul student Elizabeth Xanthopoulos, she asked to interview me for a class. Can you believe there is a class dedicated to Chicago blues? Our conversation made me reflect on the past, how I became the woman I am today, and my own relationship with the blues. She asked me “Miss James, how did you become the most influential woman in Chicago blues?” Ha! Most influential? I didn’t say it, she did. The truth is, I think all my success came from my inner rage and drive to do something big.
I told Elizabeth my history, where I began, where I came from. On January 25, 1938, I was born in Los Angeles, to a 14-year-old mother. My mom was a scam artist and substance abuser and was only present in my life on occasion. My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, like the ones she listened to. I never knew who my father was, possibly the famous pool shark, Minnesota Fats, but she never confirmed or denied whether or not he was. I lived with my foster parents, Lula and Jesse Rogers, who ran a rooming house my own mother once lived at. I struggled growing up, I built up that inner rage, and music set it free. I barely remember when I started singing, feels like my whole life. I was maybe five when I became a “little singing star” (Papineau) at St. Paul Baptist Church. That choir was one of the best in the country, the Echoes of Eden. Our choirmaster, Professor James Earle Hines taught me how to use my voice, he was my first musical mentor, the one with the heaviest influence on me. The man even punched me in the chest to get me to sing from my gut. Growing up, good singers weren’t hard to come by, they were everywhere, especially in church, hell, even on the streets. If you wanted to make it, you had to be the best, there was no room for mistake, and I was gonna be the best. Thank God for my lungs, I could really keep up with the big shots. “When it came to singing, I was no shrinking violet” (Papineau).
That inner rage pushed me. When I was 14 I started singing with two of my friends, we called our little trio the Creolettes. We got the chance to audition for the legendary Johnny Otis and he signed us for his road show. We auditioned for him in his hotel room, I refused to sing in the room, but in the bathroom for better acoustics. I wasn’t gonna let some hotel room acoustics ruin my chance. He’s the one that renamed me, Etta James, as I was Jamesetta Hawkins by my mother. At the ripe age of 15, I recorded a response to Hank Ballard and the Midnighters’ “Work With Me, Annie,” titled “Roll With Me, Henry,” which was changed to “The Wallflower,” due to its sexual nature and my young age. That hit number two on the R&B charts in 1955. I released a few more hitless songs and toured during that time. My time with Johnny Otis was a good one, I look back on it and laugh because back then “I wasn’t doing much thinking at all, I was just living” (Papineau).
That just about brings me to my time in Chicago, at Chess Records. I signed to Chess in 1960. Chess was the original hub for Chicago Blues. They produced big names like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry. Some of whom I even met. Chess allowed me to leave my previous teenage sound behind and step into something more sophisticated. Of course, I was only 22, but I thought I was grown. Chicago became the place that turned me into a pop, soul, blues, jazz, crossover artist. I have to say, I should get some credit for helping the Chess brothers move into pop from the blues. Around the same time I went to Chess, they brought on musical arranger, Riley Hampton. His arrangements had a pop-like sound that mixed with my blues vocals to create some powerful ballads. I found myself releasing hit after hit at Chess. Early on I released “At Last,” “All I Could Do Was Cry,” “Somethings Got a Hold On Me,” and “Trust in Me,” just to name a few songs that established me as Chess Records’ first major female star. That was the same time I began using heroin. I also started working on a cash-checking scheme. I spent too much time focused on toxic romances as well. “I was a fool who was smart enough to know I was being a fool, and dumb enough not to care” (Papineau). These drugs were so engrained in music culture, many on the outside didn’t realize it. Everyone I grew up listening to was on drugs. All my role models were heavy druggies, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, I was trying to be cool doing them myself, making myself out to be just like the big names. I began to wonder, do they sound as great as they sound because they’re on drugs? These bad habits derailed my career for a bit. My inner rage only grew stronger during this time. The little money I made went straight to drugs, I was only working to feed my habit. I even spent four months in Cook County jail in 1964. I got out and moved back to Los Angeles in ‘65. Then, in ‘67 Chess had me go to Alabama to record at Fame Studios with the Music Shoals Rhythm Section. This resulted in some of my biggest hits, “I’d Rather Go Blind” and “Tell Mama.” “Tell Mama” was my biggest top 40 hit and that sent Leonard Chess over the moon. He kept exclaiming that I had “crossed over” which I’m pretty sure just meant white people were paying some attention to me. “There are folks who think 'Tell Mama' is the Golden Moment of the Golden Age of Soul . . . I wish I could agree. Sure, the song made me money. It warmed Leonard Chess's heart to see the thing cross over to the pop charts, where it lingered for a long while. You might even say it became a classic. But I have to confess that it was never a favorite of mine. Never liked it. Never liked singing it — not then, not now...Maybe it's just that I didn't like being cast in the role of the Great Earth Mother, the gal you come to for comfort and sex” (James).
In 1968 I had my son, Donto, but still made bad decisions, especially with drugs. I was in and out of rehab, all across the country, from Alaska to New York. My son stayed with his Grandmother during this time. I chased some trends in the ’70s, released some albums. By the early ‘80s that rage kicked in again, I felt like I was losing myself to the drugs, cocaine this time. I finally kicked the habit and my career started thriving again. I got a new manager, Lupe De Leon, and my career took off again.
Elizabeth wanted all the gossip, I can’t blame her, she wanted to know what I thought of the big names, like the Chess brothers, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry. I asked her, how do you even know of these people, when were you born, 2001? She laughed and told me she learned about them in her Chicago Blues class and that her dad was a fan. Of course, I wasn’t gonna leave the girl hanging so I told her what I thought about all these big blues names. I told her that though the Chess brothers didn’t pay much, Leonard always made sure I kept ownership of my house in Los Angeles, no matter how broke I became. I told her Bo Diddley had a big ego, but we all probably did. I told her I always thought Chuck Berry was a smart man, he marketed right to white teenagers, and he sang and wrote to sell. I told her about the time I met my idol, Billie Holiday, she had swollen hands and feet and warned me to not let that happen to me. I even told her Elvis Presley was a perfectly respectful gentleman.
She asked about my favorite performances, the ones that made me realize I had made it. I felt obligated to tell her about some in Chicago since she’s a Chicago girl herself. I started telling her about how badly I dreamed of playing in an opera house but never thought I’d get the chance, after all, I’m no opera singer. However, I did get to, in Elizabeth’s city, Chicago, at Orchestra Hall in September 1990. I played there with my nine-piece Roots band in the Infiniti Pop Series. I brought laughter and soul into a venue that usually catered to a more sophisticated and serious sound. I joked and moved my body around that stage like it’s never felt before, I made sure to leave my mark when fulfilling that dream. I also told her about performing at the fifth annual Chicago Blues Fest in 1988. I went to tell her the history behind Blues Fest and what it was but she just smiled and nodded, I asked “What, you learned about it in your little class?” to which she responded, “Yes ma’am!” and we both laughed. I also told her about performing at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in 1984. I performed “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which helped my career pick back up after my struggle with addiction.
I told her about the various awards and honors I have received. Starting with my first Grammy in 1994. I was awarded the Grammy for the best jazz vocal performance for my album “Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday.” Billie Holiday was someone I had looked up to since I was a child, someone my mother listened to. My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer like her so it was an honor to receive an award for my album honoring her legacy. I received two more Grammys. In 2003 I received the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for my album “Let’s Roll,” and in 2004 I received the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album, for my album “Blues to the Bone.” I also told her about being inducted by K.D. Lang into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. And of course, my lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2003, also receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that same year. With a smirk on her face, she asked me, “And what about Beyonce playing you in ‘Cadillac Records’ and singing your song at President Obama’s inauguration ball?” I laughed and said “By your face, you already know what I’m going to say. I still think my version of ‘At Last’ is better and she had no business singing my song.” She laughed, I’m glad she got my joke, the first time I said it everyone freaked out. That’s just my sense of humor, I’ve always been sarcastic.
I always had that inner rage and fire, I speak and write about it all the time. Coming from my background, I had to be a fighter. When I put myself through struggles, I had to be a fighter, I had to tap into that rage. Music was my release, that scratchy, powerful, Etta James sound came from that rage. That rage was my success, my fame. Sometimes, I let that rage bring me to dark places, but it always got me out, even when I thought it couldn’t. I’m glad some of these kids, like Elizabeth, still care about the history of their cities and their cities’ music. The blues legacy is fading out in the public eye, but real musicians will always know to appreciate what it’s done for them and the impact it’s had on modern music, especially rock & roll. Chicago gave me that rock & roll sound my young self was yearning for. I got to mix soul and rock and I found my sound in Chicago, and I know I’ll always be welcomed back. I never considered myself a blues artist, still don’t really, but Chicago told me I didn’t have to conform to one thing, I could just be Etta James, rock and roller, bad girl, gospel singer, rager, soul singer, hell even comic, that last one is just my opinion.
Sincerely Always,
I wrote this essay as an assignment in my Chicago Blues class at DePaul. Even though I took this course while we were still fully online during the pandemic, it's still one of the classes I think about most today. We were tasked with writing in the first person of a famous Chicago blues artist. The first that came to mind for me was Etta James. Sure, she might not be from Chicago, but the impact Chicago had on her, and her on Chicago, is something to be put to paper indeed.
Etta James has been a vocal inspiration to me for as long as I can remember, and the impact of her sultry rock & roll blues sound on music can still be seen today. Growing up on artists like Etta and being a fan of artists like Beyoncé and Sza today, it's impossible to not see her impact on the sounds of today. The way she moves you through a song, the rasp, the growl, the clear vision for the way a song should make you feel, and how the lyrics intertwine with the composition to perfectly depict female rage, lust, and love is such a timeless talent. Her impact will live in music forever.
Works Cited
MOODY, NEKESA MUMBI, and ROBERT JABLON. “Legendary Blues Singer Etta James Dies in Calif.” Southcoasttoday.com, Southcoasttoday.com, 20 Jan. 2012, www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20120120/NEWS/120129999.
Boyd, Herb. “Johnny and Etta Together Eternally.” New York Amsterdam News: The New Black View, New York Amsterdam News, 15 Feb. 2012, m.amsterdamnews.com/news/2012/feb/15/johnny-and-etta-together-eternally/.
“Etta James.” Etta James - New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Etta_James.
James, Etta, and David Ritz. Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story. Da Capo Press, 2003.
Kening, Dan. “ETTA JAMES BRINGS SOME GRIT AND SOUL TO ORCHESTRA HALL.” Chicagotribune.com, The Chicago Tribune, 3 Sept. 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-09-30-9003210775-story.html.
Papineau, Lou. “Etta James: R&B in Its Original Sense.” The Current, The Current, 28 Feb. 2018, www.thecurrent.org/feature/2018/02/26/etta-james-rb-in-its-original-sense.
Pelisek, Christine. “Etta James's Son Donto Says Addiction Was Part of Famed Singer's Life.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 15 Nov. 2012, www.thedailybeast.com/etta-jamess-son-donto-says-addiction-was-part-of-famed-singers-life?ref=scroll.
