Prayers for Etta James

Etta James, the blastingly hot and juicy soul singer who has inspired so many performers, is terminally ill and hanging on to life by a thread this holiday season.

“I am Southern and Christian and would just ask for the prayers of her fans and friends,” her family doctor, Elaine James (no relation), told The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. “They know she’s been sick, but not how sick.”

As I write this post, I'm listening to Etta James sing "Something's Got A Hold On Me" in a televised performance from 1962.

Wow. What a voice. What a soul. She owns that song, taking it places it didn't know it could go, growling and shouting when she wasn't delivering a deep melody line in pure low tones.

And look at her face, that round, joyful l'il face peeking out from behind her beehive hairdo and thick dark eyeliner (hello, Amy Winehouse). It's the sweet and hopeful face of a sure-footed girl. The girl who gave us "I'd Rather Go Blind," "At Last," "All I Could Do I Cry," "A Sunday Kind of Love," and the list goes on.

After a life of tough times and beautiful music, Etta James, now 73, is suffering from chronic leukemia and it's not looking good for her. Despite her love troubles, drug addiction and legal problems, she gave us so much during the course of a long career. I hope she knows how much we loved her. I know I did. I'm glad she lived to see her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Peace and prayers and many thanks to Etta James.

Back to Bad-Amy Winehouse/Billie Holiday

The last time I posted on Bad Girl Blog, I said I was done with my bad-girl obsession and was going to focus only on being good from now on. Well, I lied. Turns out that goodness just isn't as fun to write about as bad behavior. So I'm back to bad, at least some of the time. And even when I do write for My Good Girl Blog, there's going to be some bad mixed in.

So. Somehow that makes me think of Amy Winehouse, who I've been thinking about a lot lately, ever since I bought "Back to Black," started listening to it obsessively, and learned that she wrote all the tracks herself. I don't care what anybody else says, I think she's an exceedingly good girl. But she's at war with her demons, which makes her that much more beautiful.

I was similarly obsessed with Billie Holiday when I was younger, and so was sad to hear Amy say "Fuck her" in a 2008 interview when asked if Billie was one of her role models. I didn't believe Amy, anyway. She was probably being defensive because Billie was a poor, alcoholic junkie when she died at the age of 44 in 1959, and Amy's critics think she's headed down the same path of self-destruction, even though she's only 25. (The world is so speeded up these days.)
But you see both of them sing, and you see the same musical brilliance and emotional vulnerability.

The videos below show Amy and Billie singing songs they wrote, and their similarities are plain to see--the way they get lost in the music, their confidence while singing, the bluesy repetition of their self-destructive lyrics about the tragic and addictive gamble of love that makes you hurt.

Here's Amy, in Love Is a Losing Game: "Played out by the band/Love is a losing hand/More than I could stand/Love is a losing hand/Self-professed, profound/Till the chips were down/Though you're a gambling man/Love is a losing hand"


And here's Billie, in Fine and Mellow: "Love will make you drink and gamble/Make you stay out all night long/Love will make you do things/That you know is wrong/Treat me right baby/I'll stay home everyday/But you're so mean to me baby/I know you're gonna drive me away"