LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Three-time Grammy winner singer Etta James, a pioneer of 1950s rhythm-and-blues and rock music known for her show-stopping hit "At Last," died on Friday from complications of leukemia, age 73.
James died at a hospital in Riverside, California, east of Los Angeles, said her manager and friend of some 30 years, Lupe De Leon. She would have turned 74 on Wednesday.
"She passed away this morning. She was with her husband and her sons," said De Leon.
James was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and had been in failing health for a number of years. Her live-in doctor said in December she was terminally ill with leukemia. James also suffered from diabetes, kidney problems and dementia and was hospitalized late in 2011 because she was struggling to breathe.
The R&B singer saw numerous ups-and-downs in her career and personal life. She struggled with obesity and heroin addiction, ran a hot-check scheme and had troubled relationships with men, including some gangsters. Her weight ballooned, and in 2003 she underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost more than 200 pounds.
Yet in the music industry, among fellow R&B artists and rock icons, James' own reputation grew into legend. With songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy," the three-time Grammy winner was a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll, and her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her mastery of the blues.
She sang with a mixture of power and pain that led veteran musical producer Jerry Wexler to call her "the greatest of all modern blues singers ... the undisputed Earth Mother."
James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but throughout her long career she diversified into mainstream blues, soul and R&B.
"Etta James is simply one of the best singers I've ever heard," singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt wrote in Rolling Stone magazine. "... Etta is earthy and gritty, ribald and out-there in a way that few performers have the guts to be."
James' last album, "The Dreamer," was released in 2011. She spent the latter part of her life at home in California.
GOSPEL TO GREATNESS
She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on January 25, 1938, to an unmarried teenager who told her that her father was legendary pool shark Rudolph Wanderone, better known as Minnesota Fats. James told CNN she introduced herself to Wanderone in 1987 but was unable to confirm he was her father.
James sang gospel in the church choir and stood out even as a 5-year-old. By 1954, she recorded "Roll With Me Henry" with two other girls in a trio called The Peaches.
The group was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis, and their song, renamed "The Wallflower," topped R&B charts in 1955. The Peaches eventually split up, but James continued recording and later that year "Good Rockin' Daddy" hit the charts.
Otis died on Tuesday in the Los Angeles area, age 90.
In the 1960s, James signed with Chicago's legendary Chess Records label and sang songs like "At Last" and "Trust in Me" that were backed by orchestras. But she never strayed too far from her gospel roots, as evidenced by 1962's "Something's Got a Hold of Me."
Over the decades, James' hit the R&B charts with 30 singles, and placed nine of those songs in pop music's top 40. She has often been cited as influencing singers including Raitt, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.
James won her first Grammy in 1995 for her album, "Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday." She also won Grammys in 2003 and 2005, as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2003 from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Grammys.
She is survived by her husband, Artis Mills, two sons Donto and Sametto who played in James' backing band, and four grandchildren.
(Reporting By Bill Trott and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)
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