Jamesetta Hawkins, widely known as Etta James was born on the 25th of January 1938 in Los Angeles California when her mother, Dorothy Hawkins was 14 years old. Her mother never confirmed who her father was even James firmly believed that her father was the famous pool player Minnesota Fats. She started singing at the age of 5 in St. Paul’s Baptist church where she started to gain fame. Etta said that people would come all the way from Hollywood just to see her sing as they found her voice so big in spite of her young age.
James was raised by Dorothy’s friends, Lulu and James Rogers. However, when Lulu died in 1950, she then moved to San Francsico with her real mother. She apparently became rebellious and was drinking hard. She formed a girl trio called The Creolettes which was discovered by Johnny Otis, the acclaimed ‘Godfather of Rhythm and Blues’ and a well known producer and promoter in 1954 who also discovered Big Mamma Thornton and Jackie…show more content… In 2008, James was not happy when Beyonce performed the this song for Barack Obama’s Inaugural Ball. “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, a gospel-based song also hit the charts as number 4 in 1962. James recorded “I’d Rather go Blind” for Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and it became a massive success and it became a UK top 20 in 1969.
She started to have drug problems in 1960s, particularly in heroin when she also gave birth to her first child Donto with her husband Artis Mills. Artis Mills tried to get her off with her addiction but when drugs were found in her, Mills accepted the blame and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Between 1973 and 1974 she was arrested and sentenced due to heroin addiction, signing bad checks, and driving stolen cars. Despite the drug treatment program, she was allowed to record songs in the rehab. One of these songs was “Come a Little