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Etta James was born on this day in 1938

Word of the Day – Thursday, January 25th

 


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ETTA (EH-tuh)

1. American R&B and gospel singer
2. Comic strip by Paul Robinson
Common
clues: Singer James; Blues singer James; “At Last” singer James; James of jazz; James in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Miss Kett; Kett of old comics
Crossword puzzle frequency: 9 times a year
Video:
At Last – Etta James


And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve. ~ Etta James



Etta James in 1990


Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer whose style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in the mid 1950s, she gained fame with hits such as "Dance With Me, Henry", "At Last", "Tell Mama", and "I'd Rather Go Blind" for which she claimed she wrote the lyrics. She faced a number of personal problems including drug addiction before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album, The Seven Year Itch.


She is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008.[3] Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.


James was hospitalized in January 2010 to treat an infection caused by MRSA. During her hospitalization, her son Donto revealed that James had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008, and attributed her previous comments about Beyoncé Knowles to "drug induced dementia".


She was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2011. The illness became terminal and she died on January 20, 2012, just five days before her 74th birthday, at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California.


***





Etta Kett was a long-run comic strip created by Paul Robinson and distributed by King Features Syndicate. Launched as a single panel during December 1925, it originally offered tips to teenagers on manners, etiquette and the social graces.


Robinson, however, saw the story potential, and he soon expanded his characters into a daily strip and Sunday page about teenager Etta Kett, her family and friends in a suburban setting. As Peter Kylling observed, Robinson borrowed from his earlier strip, The Love-Byrds:


The series premiered in the early 1920s. Stopped in 1925. Apparently just another series about a married couple living in the suburbs, but there are differences taking the time and age in consideration: Howard Byrd helps with the daily chores, and Peggy Byrd works in an office along with Howard. Furthermore, Howard likes his parents-in-law(!) and he joins the army only to be kicked out because of poor eyesight. The father character in Robinson's next comic book series, Etta Kett, is clearly modelled after Howard, and the series as a whole may be seen as a continuation of The Love-Byrds, except that the Ketts have a daughter who is in focus. She, on the other hand, bears resemblance to Peggy Byrd!


The brunette Etta and her boyfriend Wingey Wallace experienced an endless round of activities and events, such as soda fountain sessions at the Sugar Shack (where Wingey worked), rooting for the home team at the football field, arranging dates, pulling pranks and heading off for the rodeo. Comics historian Andy Madura commented, "Beginning in late 1925, Etta Kett was another of the flapper strips stemming from the 1920s. Like those that survived the era, Etta Kett had to metamorphosize away from the frivolous flapper mentality to attract Great Depression and beyond readers. For Etta Kett this was largely accomplished by putting Etta into a more college-like setting and making her the proper opposite to her somewhat wolfish boyfriends."



This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Etta James" and “Etta Kett”.