Etta James, born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, was an American singer known for her powerful voice and versatility across various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, and jazz. Rising to prominence in the 1950s, James scored her first hit with “The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)” and continued to captivate audiences with soulful classics like “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” Her emotionally charged performances and raw vocal delivery earned her the title of “The Queen of Soul.” Despite battling personal demons and substance abuse throughout her life, James maintained a remarkable career marked by critical acclaim and accolades, including multiple Grammy Awards. Beyond her music, she was a symbol of strength and resilience, overcoming adversity to become one of the most revered voices in American music history. James passed away in 2012, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire generations of musicians and fans alike.
Etta James Quotes
1. “It feels so good to be happy.”
— Etta James
2. “At last my love has come along. My lonely days are over and life is like a song.”
— Etta James
3. “My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I’d like to think I did that.”
— Etta James
4. “The two things you can’t fake are good food and good music.”
— Etta James
5. “I’ve gone through so much in my life. I should have been dead a long time ago, but I am still here, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
— Etta James
6. “The music was thunder and joy. Lightning bolts of happiness and praise, foot-stomping, dance-shouting, good-feeling singing from the soul.”
— Etta James
7. “I’ve learned to live with rage. In some ways, it’s my rage that keeps me going. Without it, I would have been whipped long ago. With it, I got a lot more songs to sing.”
— Etta James
8. “I’m not a bourgeois person, never will be.”
— Etta James
9. “When Malcolm X was assassinated I was working at the Apollo. They brought his body to the Unity Funeral Home, which was around the corner.”
— Etta James
10. “You can’t fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that’s got nothing to do with it. It’s how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.”
— Etta James
11. “I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.”
— Etta James
12. “Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don’t know what I’m sorry about. I don’t.”
— Etta James
13. “I’m not a braggart, but when I was a little girl people used to come from all over Hollywood to hear me sing.”
— Etta James
14. “I am so happy that I am alive and can walk.”
— Etta James
15. “Now I can stand up on the stage again like I used to after five years of sitting down while I sang.”
— Etta James
16. “When I’m singing the blues, I’m singing life.”
— Etta James
17. “A lot of people think the blues is depressing but that’s not the blues I’m singing. When I’m singing blues, I singing life. People can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.”
— Etta James
18. “People that can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.”
— Etta James
19. “All the things I used to like – cookies, ice cream, gumbo – I don’t like anymore.”
— Etta James
20. “That’s where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was laying hold of some part of me that I didn’t even know was there until I let it out.”
— Etta James
21. “Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that’s all I cared about.”
— Etta James
22. “I like to shop, but I don’t like to go out to dances.”
— Etta James
23. “What happens is, when I perform, I’m somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am. I forget my troubles, my worries.”
— Etta James
24. “To me, country music is like the blues, but it’s something very hip and – I don’t want to say commercial – but it’s very worldly and good listening.”
— Etta James
25. “When I look out at the people and they look at me and they’re smiling, then I know that I’m loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems.”
— Etta James
26. “I don’t care who’s playing. Even if it’s my favorite artist, I’m probably not gonna go and see him.”
— Etta James
27. “The only time that I am really truly happy – when I feel at my best – is when I’m on the stage.”
— Etta James
28. “People always say ‘Etta, you know what your problem is? You’re neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.’ When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.”
— Etta James
29. “My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble!”
— Etta James
30. “I’m not starry eyed, and I’m not money crazy.”
— Etta James
31. “When I sing for myself, I probably sing for anyone who has any kind of hurt, any kind of bad feelings, good feelings, ups and downs, highs and lows, that kind of thing.”
— Etta James
32. “Country music has the great stories.”
— Etta James
33. “I really turned into, you know, the real street kid. I was kind of like a runaway, but I had a mother, you know what I mean, and I had a place to stay.”
— Etta James
34. “Even as a little child, I’ve always had that comedian kind of attitude.”
— Etta James
35. “It’s the same thing now. When I go onstage the young people scream and holler as much as the older generation.”
— Etta James
36. “My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.”
— Etta James
37. “See, I don’t like places where people can’t dance – don’t like clubs or theatres where a bunch of bourgeois people sit around tip, tip, tipping their fingers.”
— Etta James
38. “They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I’m still vulgar. I’m vulgar because I dance in the chair. What would they want me to do? Want me to just be still or something like that? I’ve got to do something.”
— Etta James
39. “Once you lose the weight, you’re really anxious to eat healthy.”
— Etta James
40. “Bobby Womack is always very real, both with his music and as a person.”
— Etta James
41. “This is an album of songs that I’ve always loved, tunes that I heard. For the first time in 53 years of recording, I really had control over an entire album, start to finish.”
— Etta James
42. “A few years ago, I thought, I’ll never make it. I started to go to the doctor to help me lose weight.”
— Etta James
43. “Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, ‘Oh, baby,’ if there’s a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.”
— Etta James
44. “I sing the songs that people need to hear.”
— Etta James
45. “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
46. “I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I’d spit in a minute.”
— Etta James
47. “It’s not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it’s about paying tribute to them.”
— Etta James
48. “I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.”
— Etta James
49. “I figured I could do ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,’ because I believe it’s the truth.”
— Etta James
50. “I talked to the record company about what I had in mind. They said they wanted something lush. I figured the best thing to do was let them hear what I had in mind.”
— Etta James
51. “My mother used to play nothing but Billie Holiday.”
— Etta James
