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ETTA
(EH-tuh)
American
R&B and gospel singer
Comic
strip by Paul Robinson
Common
clues:
Singer James;
Blues singer James; “At Last” singer James; Miss
Kett; Kett of the comics
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year
Video:
At
Last – Etta James
Etta
James
(born January 25, 1938) is an American R&B and gospel singer.
Etta
James in 1990
Born
Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California, she received her
first professional vocal training at the age of 5, from James
Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at St.
Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Her family moved to San
Francisco, California in 1950, and in 1952 the trio (the
Creolettes) she had formed with two of her friends came to the
attention of Johnny Otis. Otis reversed the syllables of her
first name to give her her stage name and began recording her.
Her first record, and her first R & B hit, was her own
composition, "The Wallflower", an answer song to Hank
Ballard's "Work with Me, Annie." She recorded it in
1954 with the Otis band and Richard Berry, who sang the second
vocal. The song was later a hit in the white market for Georgia
Gibbs, re-written as "Dance with Me, Henry." She
briefly recorded as Etta
James & the Peaches,
releasing several hits before signing to Chess Records in 1960.
James
released several duets with Harvey Fuqua (of The Moonglows) that
became major R&B hits, as well as her classic "At Last."
However, her mainstream success was limited. In 1967, James
recorded "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind",
with "At Last" perhaps her most enduring songs, in
Muscle Shoals. Her singing is characterized by accomplished vocal
technique and strong jazz influences. She won the Grammy for best
jazz vocal in 1994 for her CD Mystery
Lady,
a collection of songs associated with Billie Holliday, and in
2004 won the Grammy for best contemporary blues album with Let's
Roll.
In 2003 she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. To a
younger generation, Etta is known for the Muddy Waters song "I
Just Wanna Make Love To You", used in television commercials
for Coca-Cola and for John Smith's bitter. The Rolling Stones,
Chuck Berry and Foghat have also recorded the song.
Drug-related
and romantic problems interfered with her career, but James
managed to maintain a career throughout the latter half of the
20th century and was inducted into both the Rock and Roll and
Blues Halls of Fame.
In
2003 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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”.
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