Artist:Etta James
Song:You Can Leave Your Hat On
Album:The Essential Etta James
Etta James is one of the all time great R & B shouters. She was born Jamesetta Hawkins Jan. 25, 1938 in Los Angeles. At 16 she was a regular with Johnny Otis singing Roll With Me Henry. She had some hits in the 50s for Modern Records but really hit the jackpot with the hit At Last in 1961. She had several hits for Chess but like a lot of Chess artists, things went sour after Leonard Chess died in 1969. This version of Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On is a good example of Etta's interpretive skills. The song was already a big hit for Joe Cocker but Etta made the song her own. It was recorded in 1974 at a time when Etta was having serious drug problems. She was also having problems with Chess as they wanted to get rid of her. So they released the song only as a single and only released it on the 1978 LP Etta Is Betta Than Evah after she left the label. This 2CD comp has all her hits and some later stuff like this. She bounced around various labels until she signed with Private Music in 1993 and had several successful CDs. Etta has also gotten a lot of press as the musical idol of pop singer Christina Aguilera. This got her a contract with RCA and her latest CD All The Way was released last year. Etta James still sounds great and she's also lost some weight recently. Here is Etta James performing You Can Leave Your Hat On from the 2002 DVD Burning Down The House.
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