Cat. No. BCD 17750: ETTA JAMES ~ ROCKS. BEAR FAMILY BCD 17750.
R&B, BLUES, SOUL, SMOLDERING VINTAGE POP BALLADS - ETTA JAMES WAS VERSATILE ENOUGH TO SING THEM ALL IN A HIGHLY DISTINCTIVE STYLE THAT RENDERED HER ONE OF THE TOP FEMALE VOCALISTS IN HER FIELD FROM THE MOMENT SHE DEBUTED WITH HER 1955 SMASH THE WALLFLOWER (ROLL WITH ME HENRY), AN ANSWER TO THE MIDNIGHTERS' SMASH WORK WITH ME ANNIE (BOTH PLATTERS WERE R&B CHART-TOPPERS). IN THOSE EARLY YEARS, ROCK AND ROLL PROVED NO PROBLEM FOR THE FIERY CHANTEUSE TO CONVINCINGLY DELIVER. THIS JAM PACKED COMPILATION DEMONSTRATES THAT TIME AND AGAIN.
ETTA WAS BORN JAMESETTA HAWKINS ON JANUARY 25, 1938 IN LOS ANGELES TO A GLAMOROUS BUT EXTREMELY ENIGMATIC MOTHER NAMED DOROTHY, THEN ONLY IN HER MID-TEENS, WHO WOULD FLIT IN AND OUT OF HER LIFE IN YEARS TO COME WHENEVER IT SUITED HER. ETTA WAS REARED MOSTLY AT FIRST BY A KINDLY OLDER LADY NAMED LULA ROGERS, WHO SHE CAME TO CALL MAMA LU, AND HER HUSBAND. ETTA FOUND HER VOICE AT THE TENDER AGE OF FIVE WHEN SHE JOINED THE PARISHIONERS AT ST. PAUL BAPTIST CHURCH AND FELL UNDER THE SWAY OF ITS MUSICAL POWERHOUSE, PROFESSOR JAMES EARLE HINES WHOSE ECHOES OF EDEN CHOIR BROADCAST LIVE EVERY SUNDAY MORNING FROM THE CHURCH OVER KOWL RADIO. THE PROFESSOR TOOK ONE LISTEN TO THE YOUNGSTER AND WAS SO BOWLED OVER THAT HE BECAME HER FIRST MENTOR.
AS TIME WENT ON JAMESETTA GREW LOCALLY FAMOUS BUT HINES' AGGRESSIVE VOCAL PHRASING HAD LEFT ITS INDELIBLE MARK ON HER DEVELOPING APPROACH. JUST BEFORE HER TEENS, ETTA AND DOROTHY RELOCATED TO SAN FRANCISCO WHERE ETTA FORMED A VOCAL GROUP WITH NEW ORLEANS-BORN SISTERS ABYSINIA AND JEAN MITCHELL CALLED "THE CREOLETES" WHERE THEY WERE HEARD BY JOHNNY OTIS WHO SET ETTA ON THE ROAD TO STARDOM. ETTA'S RECORDING DEBUT WAS HELD ON NOVEMBER 25, 1954 AT THE MODERN RECORDING STUDIO AND RESULTED IN THE SMASH HIT "WALLFLOWER (ROLL WITH ME HENRY)".
TRACK LISTING: Tough Lover / Dance With Me, Henry / If It Ain't One Thing (Credited to Betty & Dupree) / Seven Day Fool / W-O-M-A-N / Next Door to The Blues / Good Rockin' Daddy / I'm A Fool / Shortnin' Bread Rock / By The Light Of The Silvery Moon / Spoonful (Credited to Etta and Harvey) / The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry) / Plum Nuts / Something's Got A Hold On Me / Hickory Dickory Dock / I Just Want To Make Love To You / Tough Mary / Market Place / Good Lookin' / 'Baby, Baby' Every Night / Pushover / What's I Say / Baby What You Want Me To Do / Strange Things Happening / Hey! Henry / The Pick-Up / Come What May / Number One / That's All.
CD DIGI-PAK (ECO-PAK) NEW
