The Scene

Sunday Music Vids: ETTA JAMES

Published on Sunday, January 22 2012
Written by Katie Marzullo

This week, we lost one of the great ones in the music world. Ms. Etta James, who gave us perhaps the end-all-be-all of love songs with her prom night and wedding day favorite, “At Last”, passed away this past Friday at 73 after nearly year-long battle with leukemia. She’d also been suffering from a bacterial infection and Alzheimer’s Disease for the better part of three years, but given the rough life she led, we’re very lucky we didn’t lose her sooner.

Etta made it big very early in life, releasing her first single when she was only 17 and barely stopping to look back after that. To try to keep the pace and cope with the hectic schedule that being a blues diva required, she did what many artists sadly do, and that was turn to drugs and alcohol. As recently as 2010, she was being treated for a dependency on painkillers. But even through it all, she still managed to put out an astounding 29 studio albums in her long career, the most recent one being The Dreamer, which was released only a couple months ago. Not failing health nor having to endure watching Beyoncé play her in the 2008 film Cadillac Records could keep Etta’s spirit down, and that, more than anything, is what we’ll remember her for.

So, in honor of this music legend, here are a few videos of Etta doing what she do best and bringing the house down. (Fans of Flo Rida will find her song “Something’s Got a Hold On Me” rather familiar...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

@YHKatie