R&B singer Etta James was born January 25, 1938. It wasn't until 1994 that Etta James won her first Grammy. Etta James’ Grammy Award was followed a year later, in 1995, by her autobiography, Rage to Survive. That was the year I interviewed Etta James on Rhythm Revue.
Etta James: Hi, Felix. Glad to be here. Thank you so much.
Felix Hernandez: I read your book and it is just so fascinating. What a life.
Etta James: It was just like waking up in the morning. I mean, all these things were happening. I was reading it myself on my way over, on the plane, just going back over and going, wow, all of this really happened to me. When it was happening, it was just like a young person that it was just drama in my life. I just probably thought that that's where everything was supposed to go.
Felix Hernandez: The book is called Rage to Survive,
Etta James: I guess because so much has gone on, and all the way from a child, where I always had a way of using my rage to either get out of something or get into something or just be pissed off about something. It was an escape hatch for me. But then when I really look at it, I'm just like my mother.
Felix Hernandez: Who gave you the name Etta James?
Etta James: Oh, Johnny Otis. Because Johnny Otis had named me Peaches at first, right? James Etta was the name that…James Etta don't sound like a very famous name, you know? So what he did was he took James, and turned it around backwards and said Etta James.
Felix Hernandez: Some of your first records were made with Johnny Otis.
Etta James: Yeah, they were like “Dance With Me Henry,” “Good Rockin’ Daddy”, stuff like that.
Felix Hernandez: And your first big hit was “Dance With Me Henry.” That was based on another song, right?
Etta James: It was based on Hank Ballard and the Midnighters’ “Work With Me, Annie.” It was like an answer to “Work With Me Annie.”
Felix Hernandez: And then it hit the charts in 1955.
Etta James: Yeah, it hit the charts, but you know what? The funny thing about it during those days, people like Johnny Otis and the record company, when they cut that thing that night, the next day they printed it. Within two days, it was out and on the market. Johnny Otis was a disc jockey. He had his little record shop in a little room facing a main drag, and he would be in the window. He started playing it. I remember he called me on the phone and said, “Hey, Peaches, your record sold 500 copies right here out of my window in this district.” People would ride by in their cars and they'd scream out.
Etta James was still under 18 when she had her first hit single.
Felix Hernandez: What did your mother think of all this?
Etta James: Well, I didn't care what my mother said, because my mother wasn't around at that time, but what I told him… He said, “Go home and get a piece of paper with your mother's signature on it saying that she will allow you to travel.” Because he kind of knew I was lying, you know. So we went home that night and I wrote the note. And then came back that morning with a little bag of clothes and I said, “Well, here, here's a note from my mom.” And we got on his little bus.
There weren't any more major hits for Etta James until she landed a contract with Chess Records in Chicago in 1959.
Etta James: Well, we were traveling still working off of the “Roll with Me Henry” stuff and the “Good Rocking Daddy” stuff, and traveling around the country. And then I ran into the Moonglows somewhere along the way. I think we were making like about $30 a night. And, musicians and things are the same way today. “How much money are you making?” You know, being a little young star, I say, “Oh, I'm making $30 a night.” Well, 30 a night? I had never made nothing. And they said, “You make $30 a night as big as your records are?” And I said, “Yeah.” He said, “Well, you need to go with a record company—our record company and the Moonglows.” They were with Chess. And I said, “Well, where is that record company?” They said, “In Chicago.” And so I said, “Oh, all right.” You could make much more money and your records would be bigger. You could do more different kind of stuff. So eventually I went to Chess, I think in about 1960 or late 1959. That’s when Chess bought my contract from Modern. That's when I started doing “All I Could Do Was Cry” and “At Last.” I was able to do stuff that it looked like to them, and because I didn't know what it was and when they said crossover. “Etta’s crossing over.”
My interview with Etta James will continue.
Listen, above.
Recommended Tracks (early Etta James)
“Dance with Me Henry” (aka “Roll with Me Henry”; “The Wallflower”)
“All I Could Do Was Cry”
“How Do You Speak to an Angel”
“At Last”
“My Heart Cries/If I Can't Have You”—Etta & Harvey Fuqua of the Moonglows
Deep Cut
“Crazy Feeling” (bare bones mix on Souffle)
