Etta James (1938–2012)

B (Good).

This is a wild party. As someone who doesn't generally like live albums, I don't think this will hold up for me, but for the first few listens it's been fun.

(Nov. 2024)

This was an odd book in that I did not any of the characters but I still enjoyed the book. It doesn't usually work that way for me but it somehow did this time around. It was also a very similar plot to a book I just finished but I think I found this one more entertaining. I give this a solid 3.5 stars and would recommend to thriller fans.

Etta James is one of those celebrities you hear about and wondered what happened to. Up until a few years ago, I thought she was deceased. You don’t hear much about or from here these days, but she is alive and kicking.

Jamesetta Hawkins was the product of a 14 year old African-American mother and a white father (who is rumored to be Minnesota Fats the pool shark). This book chronicles her tumultuous childhood complete with absent mother. It goes on to talk of her rise to stardom and her show more demise through various types of drugs. It also goes on to talk about her failed romantic relationships, criminal activity and stints in prison and rehab.

Pretty much your standard autobiography/memoir fare, however, Etta’s writing style makes the story more accessible. Not the queen of grammar, using double negatives all over the damn book, you still can read it with ease.

But Etta doesn’t feel sorry for herself; she falls down and stands up over and over again. Each chapter there is something awful happening in her life, and you would think this would make a depressing read, but it doesn’t.

This book was published in the early 1990s, and the story stops sometime after she was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll hall of fame. The last chapter of this book, she talks about how she is still overweight and working toward being leaner and healthier. I looked her up recently, and she has succeeded.

She is now in her early 70s and looks like she weighs 120 lbs…a far cry from the 300+ lbs she weighed toward the end of her book.

This book was enlightening and I’m glad there are still some strong black women in this world. Etta James is a survivor. show less

James' third album for Chess Records.

4/4 (Great).

The material is inconsistent, but it has a few great tracks, including "Something's Got a Hold on Me," one of my favorite songs. And when the songs are bad, Etta makes the most of them.