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Etta James at B.B. King Blues Club
Soul’s bad girl trashes Beyonce…and it’s about time
Etta James at the 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Photo: Elliott Hammer/Flickr)
“At last, my love has come along…” made Etta James immortal. But this under-acknowledged soul icon gave us so much more, from her arched eyebrows to her disputed crown as the Queen of Soul. Before her standard wedding song and presidential slow-dance number “At Last” was released in 1961, James was already a famous Chess recording artist with R’n’B hits “The Wallflower” and “All I Could Do Was Cry.” But “At Last” is her claim to fame. Or it was until Beyonce.
Last month, in Seattle, the formidable growler Etta James stood on stage denouncing the president’s choice of Beyonce to sing “At Last” during the Inaugural Ball’s first dance. Granted, Beyonce’s voice lacks James’ gritty anger and ache, but poor Beyonce. She has publicly paid tribute to James, portrayed the crooner onscreen in Cadillac Records (based on the Chess Records story) and named James as one of her heroes. Beyonce even caught flack from Aretha Franklin for referring to James as the Queen of Soul, even though James’ 1965 album of the same title made the mistake an easy one.
James claims she was joking that night in Seattle when she threatened to beat up Beyonce, but that sort of comment is not one you can take back. And considering James’ characteristic swagger, its doubtful she lost sleep over the incident. This is why Etta James’ stage show is still vital. No one knows what the fireball will say or do. She still takes every opportunity for vulgar innuendo. Her over-seventy voice may be fading, but it maintains its personality, just like James.
Born Jamesetta Hawkins, James started recording over five decades ago, in 1955, at age seventeen. She has opened for the Rolling Stones and beaten a heroin addiction. She once weighed 400 pounds, and with gastric bypass surgery, dropped over 200 off that number. With this track record, it’s no wonder the bad girl of hip hop, Lil’ Kim, adopted the look of the bad girl of soul, including the dramatically arched eyebrows, beauty mark and platinum blond tresses.
James’ set list will include standards such as “Sunday Kind of Love” or “Something’s Got a Hold on Me.” The surprises from her new album are versions of “Holding Back the Years” and “Purple Rain.” The man in purple, also known for a feisty bedside manner, graciously allowed James to use his song. But then again, she has yet to perform it for Obama. Maybe James’ protection of her song catalog shows a lack of perspective, even humility. But after decades of “At Last” overshadowing her large palette of colorful contributions to soul, this diva deserves to flex a little attitude.