Singer Etta James to be laid to rest on Saturday after private service
Viewing will be held Friday
Mourners, fans and curiosity-seekers will get a final opportunity to say farewell to Jamesetta Hawkins, aka Etta James, on Friday during a public viewing at Inglewood Cemetery Mortuary, 3801 W. Manchester Blvd., from 5 to 10 p.m.
A private funeral service will be held Saturday at Greater Bethany Community Church, City of Refuge in Gardena.
James, the big-voiced singer who also had big battles with her weight into her 60s when she had gastric bypass surgery in 2002, died Friday in Riverside from complications of leukemia. She also had dementia and other medical problems, and through much of her life she struggled with drug addiction.
There is no one song that can encapsulate James’ storied career as a singer, but the one most Americans might easily identify her with is “At Last,” the jazzy ballad that Beyonce Knowles reprised in the film “Cadillac Records” and at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
“Etta James was one of the greatest vocalists of our time,” Beyonce wrote on her website after James’ death. “Her musical contributions will last a lifetime. Playing Etta James taught me so much about myself, and singing her music inspired me to be a stronger artist. When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph. Her deeply emotional way of delivering a song told her story with no filter. She was fearless, and had guts.”
James began singing Gospel as a child at St. Paul Baptist Church at Naomi Avenue and 21st Street, and it was there that her gifts were first recognized and cultivated. Even as a child, she eschewed the sound of the females singers in the church and copied her aggressive style from the male singers.
“We had one of the biggest, baddest, hippest choirs anywhere, the Echoes of Eden,” she wrote (with David Ritz) in her autobiography, “Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story.” “Our choirmaster, Professor James Earle Hines, was my first and heaviest musical mentor, the cat who taught me to sing.”
Among the stars who attended St. Paul were Gospel greats Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Sallie Martin Singers. Joe Adams, then a well-known deejay who would later manage Ray Charles, was also a member.
Even her song, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” was initially fashioned as a Gospel song, but turned into a boisterous rocker that showcased her big voice, according to the book.
But throughout her career, James was equally at home in straight Blues, R&B and Jazz, Country, Pop and almost any other musical form.
In her personal life, she seemed most comfortable in a rowdy milieu, and she cultivated a gruff, bawdy manner, although she admitted in her autobiography that she was really mushy inside.
See Etta James obituary at www.ourweekly.com
Etta James, the big-voiced singer with the rowdy persona, has died after a long battle with leukemia. She was 73.
With her dyed blond hair piled high, eyes cat-shaped by mascara and big hoop earrings, she cultivated a whorish look and a loud, blustery attitude that made her seem tough, but by her own admission she was mushy inside and often confused and fearful.
Music legend Etta James, known for her fire and feistiness, may be living through one of the most turbulent episodes in her life and not even know it. Diagnosed with both dementia and leukemia and under constant nursing care she likely has little or no idea of the controversy swirling around both her and her family.
While she languishes, a legal battle between her husband and her two sons has reverberated through the courts and the media.
Memorial services were being set for Norma Merrick Sklarek, a celebrated African American architect who accomplished numerous firsts in the field.
Sklarek died Monday at her home in Pacific Palisades. She was 85.
Whitney Houston’s family is free to collect her body from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office and make funeral arrangements, a coroner’s lieutenant said Monday morning.
Houston’s mother has arranged to have the body flown back to Atlanta as early as Tuesday, TMZ reported. While police have placed a security hold on autopsy results, no such hold has been placed on the body, Winter said.
Whitney Houston died this afternoon ... a rep for the singer told the Associated Press.
Houston won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards during her record-breaking career. Her album "Whitney" was the first female album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts. She has sold 200 albums world wide.
Houston holds an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Grambling State University in Louisiana.
Houston had one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown were married from 1992-2007.
