Etta James - Complete Recordings 1955-1962 '2013

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. The Wallflower (Roll with Me Henry)
02. Hold Me, Squeeze Me
03. Hey Henry
04. Be Mine
05. Good Rockin Daddy
06. Crazy Feeling
07. W-O-M-E-N
08. Thats All
09. Number One (My One and Only)
10. Im a Fool
11. Shortnin Bread Rock
12. Tears of Joy
13. Tough Lover
14. What Fools We Mortals Be
15. Dance with Me Henry
16. Good Lookin
17. Then Ill Care
18. The Pickup
19. Market Place
20. Come What May
21. By the Light of the Silvery Moon
22. Strange Things Happening
23. Sunshine of Love
24. Baby Baby Every Night
25. I Hope Youre Satisfied
26. If It Aint One Thing
27. How Big a Fool
28. My Heart Cries
29. Its a Crying Shame
30. Anything to Say Youre Mine
31. My Dearest Darling
32. Trust in Me
33. A Sunday Kind of Love
34. Tough Mary
35. I Just Want to Make Love to You
36. At Last
37. All I Could Do Was Cry
38. Stormy Weather
39. Girl of My Dreams
40. Dont You Remember
41. Hickory Dickory Dock
42. Nobody Loves You Like Me
43. Were in Love
44. You Know What I Mean
45. Dont Cry Baby
46. Fool That I Am
47. One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
48. In My Diary
49. Seven Day Fool
50. Its Too Soon to Know
51. Dream
52. Ill Dry My Tears
53. Plum Nuts
54. Dont Get Around Much Anymore
55. Waiting for Charlie to Come Home
56. Guess Again
57. A Lovers Mourn
58. You Can Count on Me
59. If I Cant Have You
60. Somethings Got a Hold on Me
61. My Dear
62. Nobody but You
63. Let Me Know
64. Spoonful
65. Dont Take Your Love from Me
66. How Do You Speak to an Angel
67. Fools Rush In
68. Dont Blame Me
69. Someone to Watch over Me
70. Again
71. I Want to Be Loved
72. It Could Happen to You
73. These Foolish Things
74. Prisoner of Love
75. Stop the Wedding
76. Street of Tears
77. Next Door to the Blues
78. Would It Make Any Difference to You


 Read MoreEtta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California on
January 25, 1938; her mother was just 14 years old at the time, and she never
knew her father, though she would later say she had reason to believe he was the
well-known pool hustler Minnesota Fats. James was raised by friends and
relatives instead of her mother through most of her childhood, and it was while
she was living with her grandparents that she began regularly attending a
Baptist church. James voice made her a natural for the choir, and despite her
young age she became a soloist with the group, and appeared with them on local
radio broadcasts. At the age of 12, after the death of her foster mother, James
found herself living with her mother in San Francisco, and with little adult
supervision, she began to slide into juvenile delinquency. But James love of
music was also growing stronger, and with a pair of friends she formed a singing
group called the Creolettes. The girls attracted the attention of famed
bandleader Johnny Otis, and when he heard their song Roll with Me Henry -- a
racy answer song to Hank Ballards infamous Work with Me Annie -- he arranged for
them to sign with Modern Records, and the Creolettes cut the tune under the name
the Peaches (the new handle coming from Ettas longtime nickname). Roll with Me
Henry, renamed The Wallflower, became a hit in 1955, though Georgia Gibbs would
score a bigger success with her cover version, much to Ettas dismay. After
charting with a second R&B hit, Good Rockin Daddy, the Peaches broke up and
James stepped out on her own.

James solo career was a slow starter, and she spent several years cutting
low-selling singles for Modern and touring small clubs until 1960, when Leonard
Chess signed her to a new record deal. James would record for Chess Records and
its subsidiary labels Argo and Checker into the late 70s and, working with
producers Ralph Bass and Harvey Fuqua, she embraced a style that fused the
passion of R&B with the polish of jazz, and scored a number of hits for the
label, including All I Could Do Was Cry, My Dearest Darling, and Trust in Me.
While James was enjoying a career resurgence, her personal life was not faring
as well; she began experimenting with drugs as a teenager, and by the time she
was 21 she was a heroin addict, and as the 60s wore on she found it increasingly
difficult to balance her habit with her career, especially as she clashed with
her producers at Chess, fought to be paid her royalties, and dealt with a number
of abusive romantic relationships. James career went into a slump in the
mid-60s, but in 1967 she began recording with producer Rick Hall at FAME Studios
in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and, adopting a tougher, grittier style, she bounced
back onto the R&B charts with the tunes Tell Mama and Id Rather Go Blind.

Deep in the NightIn the early 70s, James had fallen off the charts again, her
addiction was raging, and she turned to petty crime to support her habit. She
entered rehab on a court order in 1973, the same year she recorded a
rock-oriented album, Only a Fool, with producer Gabriel Mekler. Through most of
the 70s, a sober James got by touring small clubs and playing occasional blues
festivals, and she recorded for Chess with limited success, despite the high
quality of her work. In 1978, longtime fans the Rolling Stones paid homage to
James by inviting her to open some shows for them on tour, and she signed with
Warner Bros., cutting the album Deep in the Night with producer Jerry Wexler.
While the album didnt sell well, it received enthusiastic reviews and reminded
serious blues and R&B fans that James was still a force to be reckoned with. By
her own account, James fell back into drug addiction after becoming involved
with a man with a habit, and she went back to playing club dates when and where
she could until she kicked again thanks to a stay at the Betty Ford Center in
1988. That same year, James signed with Island Records and cut a powerful
comeback album, Seven Year Itch, produced by Barry Beckett of the Muscle Shoals
Rhythm Section. The album sold respectably and James was determined to keep her
career on track, playing frequent live shows and recording regularly, issuing
Stickin to My Guns in 1990 and The Right Time in 1992.

Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie HolidayIn 1994, a year after she was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, James signed to the Private Music label, and
recorded Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday, a tribute to the great vocalist
she had long cited as a key influence; the album earned Etta her first Grammy
Award. The relationship with Private Music proved simpatico, and between 1995
and 2003 James cut eight albums for the label, while also maintaining a busy
touring schedule. In 2003, James published an autobiography, Rage to Survive:
The Etta James Story, and in 2008 she was played onscreen by modern R&B diva
Beyoncé Knowles in Cadillac Records, a film loosely based on the history of
Chess Records. Knowles recorded a faithful cover of At Last for the films
soundtrack, and later performed the song at Barack Obamas 2009 inaugural ball;
several days later, James made headlines when during a concert she said I cant
stand Beyoncé, she had no business up there singing my song that Ive been
singing forever. (Later the same week, James told The New York Times that the
statement was meant to be a joke -- I didnt really mean anything...even as a
little child, Ive always had that comedian kind of attitude -- but she was
saddened that she hadnt been invited to perform the song.)

The DreamerIn 2010, James was hospitalized with MRSA-related infections, and it
was revealed that she had received treatment for dependence on painkillers and
was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, which her son claimed was the likely
cause of her outbursts regarding Knowles. James released The Dreamer, for Verve
Forecast in 2011. She claimed it was her final album of new material. Etta James
was diagnosed with terminal leukemia later that year, and died on January 20,
2012 in Riverside, California at the age of 73. ~ Mark Deming

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