Etta James started her career at Modern Records in Los Angeles in 1955. The company released nine singles by James between 1955 and 1957 on the Modern label and then one further song on their new subsidiary Kent label in 1958. The tracks on the second Kent single in 1960 were later licensed to Vee-Jay Records. Two of these Modern singles entered the R&B chart. The first, “The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry)”, sailed to number one! The third, “Good Rockin’ Daddy”, made it to number six, and then no more chart success. In 1961, after James had left Modern to join Chess, the Bihari brothers, who owned Modern, decided to put out an album of the early songs entitled “Miss Etta James” on their subsidiary budget label Crown Records.
Etta James had moved to Argo, a Chess Records subsidiary in Chicago, in 1959 and quickly recorded two solo singles, “My Dearest Darling” and “All I Could Do Was Cry”. She also teamed up with Harvey Fuqua to record a couple of songs, “If I Can’t Have You”, which shows off the fantastic power in Etta James’ voice, and “Spoonful”, a great Blues track. All four were released in 1960, and all four entered both the Pop and R&B charts. She stayed with Argo for five years, putting out over twenty singles and EPs. Eighteen of the singles entered the Pop chart, with the highest entry the 1963 song “Pushover”. Fourteen of the singles made the R&B chart, with ten reaching the top ten. It was a big step up from Modern Records. In addition, Argo released six Etta James albums, which give an early indication of the full range of her talents.
The first Argo album was entitled “at last!” and featured the first two solo singles, one written by New Orleans musicians Edwin Bocage (Eddie Bo) and Paul Gayten and the other a Billy Davis song. “Stormy Weather” and “Sunday Kind Of Love” show James’ love of Jazz, whilst Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love To You” has become a Blues standard. The stand-out track is tucked away on side two, another Jazz-inspired ballad, with a strong orchestral backing courtesy of conductor/arranger Riley Hampton. It is, of course, the album’s title track, which has become one of Etta James’ best-known songs.
Four singles were released from the album, the first two solo releases described above plus “At Last” and “Trust In Me”. “At Last” went to number two on the R&B chart and number forty-seven on the Pop chart. “Trust In Me” reached number four (R&B) and number thirty (Pop).
Leonard Chess clearly saw Etta James as an artist with the ability to sing in a variety of styles. He appreciated her ability to cover Blues, Jazz, Soul and R&B and believed she could cross over from the Blues/ R&B market to mainstream Pop. The early songs chosen for Etta James’ releases are a good demonstration of his vision for her.
Subsequent albums released on the Argo label show a similar approach. The second studio album “Second Time Around” from 1961 starts with a typical Etta James slow Blues “Don’t Cry Baby”, followed by a slow Jazz standard “Fool That I Am” and a well-known ballad “One More For the Road”, which set the tone for most of the songs on the album. Not until track five does James up the tempo and the excitement with “Seven Day Fool”, a song written by Billy Davis, Berry Gordy and Sonny Woods, which stands out from the rest.
With the release of “Sings For Lovers” in 1962 James looked back to the forties for inspiration with a set of romantic ballads. They are well-sung covers, but James was capable of so much more. The “Etta James” album was also released in 1962, giving her an opportunity to tackle some new songs, most of them ballads but more up-tempo and with more modern arrangements. The two early duets with Harvey Fuqua are included, alongside a dramatic version of “Something’s Got A Hold Of Me”, which Etta James co-wrote with Leroy Kirkland and Pearl Woods. At last James had a song that enabled her to show off some of her vocal tricks and her prowess as a Soul singer. She also managed to include another Willie Dixon Blues number, “Nobody But You”, with excellent piano and saxophone backing from the session band. One final collector’s item was “Let Me Know”, a slow Bluesy ballad written by Billy Davis and Berry Gordy Jr. Altogether, it is a fine album, that shows Etta James benefitting from the production oversight of Ralph Bass.
Bass was at the helm again for the follow-up album, “Rocks the House”, released in 1963. This a live album recorded at the New Era Club in Nashville. The set list is a mix of Soul and Blues, featuring songs by B.B. King, Robert Nighthawk, Ray Charles, Jessie Hill (from New Orleans) and Jimmy Reed. There are two songs co-written by Berry Gordy. The album starts with a bang, with “Something’s Gotta Hold On Me”. The songs have all been chosen for the excitement they generate and are probably an indication of what Etta James really wanted to do.
Etta James received a new honour in 1964 with the release of her next studio album “Queen of Soul”. The opening track sets the tone. It a song co-written by Etta James and Ed Townsend called “Bobby Is His Name”, with strong, romantic backing vocals and lush strings providing a counterpoint to James’ soaring Soul lead. Track two, another powerful performance, is a cover of Irma Thomas’ “I Wish Someone Would Care”. The strongest song on the album is “Somewhere Out There”, co-written by Billy Davis, Carl Smith and Wilfred McKinley. James’ vocal is passionate and does the lyrics justice. Sadly, the backing harmonies are very obvious, probably geared to the Pop market.
1965 saw the release of just one Etta James single, a duet with Sugar Pie DeSanto, arranged by Charles Handy and produced by Billy Davis. “Do I Make Myself Clear” is an up-tempo number, with a strong horn section highlighting the voices effectively. There then followed a change of name for James’ label, as Chess Records discovered a clash with another Argo Records in the UK. Argo became Cadet, with the next release a follow-up single for the James/ DeSanto pairing, entitled “In the Basement” and co-written by Billy Davis, Carl Smith and Raynard Miner. The horns used on the first duet are replaced by guitar and bass, which deliver a strong, driving beat. It is interesting to listen to the development of the arrangements and to the increasingly raw edge to James’ delivery during the late sixties, when she really does become Chicago’s Queen of Soul and a rival for Aretha Franklin.
The 1966 album “Call My Name” features a number of slow ballads, but it is the up-tempo numbers that stand out and allow James to show her range and power. Between 1966 and 1967, Cadet released three singles from the album, the best of which is “I Prefer You”/ “I’m So Glad (I Found Love In You)”, produced by Ralph Bass and Monk Higgins. The arrangements bring together the horns and guitars used separately on the previous singles, with excellent results. Saxophonist Monk Higgins co-wrote the A-side, while his wife Vea Pea Smith co-wrote the B-side.
Etta James’ career was certainly on an up-swing, and things were about to get even better. In 1967 Aretha Franklin had gone to Muscle Shoals in Alabama to record with Rick Hall at FAME Studios. The session produced two iconic hits, before an argument ensued that caused Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records to take his artists elsewhere. Faced with the loss of his main income, Hall offered studio time to Leonard Chess and was delighted when Leonard took up the offer. A number of Chess Records R&B artists travelled down to Muscle Shoals to record in 1967 and 1968, foremost among them Etta James. It gave her the opportunity to work with Hall and some outstanding session musicians. (For the full story of the visits, see Icons of Muscle Shoals).
The result was a wonderful album entitled “Tell Mama”, released on the Cadet label in 1968. The twelve songs chosen for the album include two with a Memphis connection (an Otis Redding song and a Charles Chalmers song), plus two written by Don Covay, one from Chess songwriters Leonard Caston and Lloyd Webber and several with a Muscle Shoals connection, written by Jimmy Hughes, Calvin Carter, Spooner Oldham and Rick Hall. It is one of Etta James’ best albums, with excellent sound quality, spot-on arrangements and backing musicians who made every note count. The last track on side one is “The Same Rope”, written by the two Chess men. It’s not as well-known as the two opening tracks, but it’s pure Chicago Soul.
Chess Records then saw some big changes. Leonard Chess left in 1968 and died a year later. The company was then sold to GRT, and Philip left to work in radio. GRT appointed Leonard’s son Marshall as president of the company and work continued.
In 1970, Etta James released two albums, “Etta James Sings Funk” and “Losers Weepers”. The first was recorded at Sunset Sound and Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, with production duties shared by Ralph Bass and Gene Barge. The most interesting track is “What Fools We Mortals Be”, written by Rogers, Taub and Ling. These names are pseudonyms for Etta James (she was raised by a couple called Rogers), Julius Bihari and Saul Bihari, two of the Bihari brothers who had given James her first chance to record at Modern Records. The second 1970 album was “Losers Weepers”, again produced by Ralph Bass. Gene Barge and David Bonds wrote several of the tracks. The most unusual choice is the song “Look At The Rain”, written by reggae singer Jackie Edwards.
In 1973 there was another internal change of label, as Cadet was wound down and James’ last three albums were issued on the main Chess label. “Etta James” (also titled “Only A Fool”) was the first of these, produced by Gabriel Meckler, with horn arrangements by Trevor Lawrence and strings arranged by Jimmie Haskell. Meckler and Lawrence teamed up with Catherine Williamson to write two of the songs and then with Etta James to write a third. The album also contains three Randy Newman songs. Despite the inclusion of “Just One More Day”, written by Otis Redding, Steve Cropper and McElvoy Robinson, the album takes James in a new direction with a majority of the tracks offering a taste of Blues Rock. The album was recorded at Sunset Sound Factory in Hollywood.
1974’s follow-up album, “Come A Little Closer”, was also arranged and produced by Trevor Lawrence and Gabriel Meckler and recorded at Sunset Sound Factory. The selection of songs includes six co-written by Lawrence and Meckler (two with input from Catherine Williamson), plus one Randy Newman composition. Just as for the last album, Steve Cropper provided one song, co-written this time with Don Covay. Two of the guitarists on the sessions stand out: Wah Wah Watson, famed for his work at Motown, and Lowell George of Little Feat, who is featured on Randy Newman’s “Let’s Burn Down the Cornfield”. The tone of several of the songs is quite dark, but the mood is lifted by the up-tempo “Mama Told Me” and the funky “You Give Me What I Want”.
Just to prove that she could do justice to any style of song, James issued a Chess single in 1975 that was nothing like the songs on the previous or the next album. “Lovin’ Arms” is a beautiful ballad, written by Californian Folk singer Tom Jans, first recorded in 1973 by Dobie Gray and then by Kris Kristoferson and Rita Coolidge. Elvis Presley released his version in 1974. (Note: Country Blues singer/guitarist Sam “Lightning” Hopkins also wrote a completely different song with the same title. He is mistakenly listed as the songwriter on the Chess single!). Etta James sings it with a simple purity and tops the earlier versions. She really couldn’t make a bad record!
Etta James 1990
Photo: Roland Godefroy (Wikimedia Commons)
There was just one more album on the Chess label, before Etta James moved on. “Etta Is Betta Than Evvah!”, released in 1976, was largely arranged and produced by Mike Terry, a baritone saxophonist from Detroit. Several of the tracks had already appeared on the earlier “Etta James” album. The opening track, “Woman (Shake Your Booty)”, was produced by Etta James and recorded at Village Recorders in Hollywood. The rest of the album, under Mike Terry’s supervision, was recorded at All Platinum Studios in Englewood, New Jersey. This was the company that had bought Chess in 1975. Two of the tracks have a New Orleans origin, King Floyd’s “Groove Me” and Allen Toussaint’s “Blinded By Love”. The overall style of this album is funky Blues.
These last albums were all accomplished, but they failed to produce any significant hits, and so Etta James moved to Warner Brothers, where she made an album with Jerry Wexler. After that there were no more recordings for ten years, as she struggled with addiction problems.
Fortunately, James managed to get through these issues and started to rebuild her career in 1989, when she signed a contract with Island Records. She cut two albums with Barry Beckett at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals and went on to make a series of wonderful albums, covering Jazz, Blues and Soul, for a variety of labels. Her twenty-ninth and final studio album, entitled “The Dreamer”, was released in November, 2011. The quality of the songs is still very high, fifty-six years after her first single!
Etta James died a couple of months later, in January 2012, in California.
Her importance to the development of R&B and Blues music has been recognised by many awards. These include: the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (1989), NAACP Image Award (1990), Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993) and the Billboard R&B Founders Award (2006). In addition, Etta James was nominated fifteen times for a Grammy Award, winning three. In addition, “At Last” (1999) and “The Wallflower” (2008) have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The most significant of her thirty-plus awards came in 2003, when she was awarded the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Etta James was one of the central pillars of Chicago Soul and R&B.
