Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen 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 both in 1999 and 2008 Down Beat Magazine July 27, 2007 Etta James Hospitalized, Tour Suspended. In the 1950s and 60s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best known for her 1961 ballad "At Last", which has been featured in many movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming services since its release. James has a contralto vocal range. Night Blind..

Biography

Jamesetta Hawkins was born in Los Angeles, California to an unmarried 14-year-old African-American mother, Dorothy Hawkins. She claimed that her mother told her that her father was pool player Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, who was Caucasian, and that they received financial support from him on the condition that they keep his paternity a secret. James was born in Los Angeles in 1938, at a time when Wanderone was known to be managing a pool hall in Washington, D.C.

She received her first professional vocal training at the age of five years old, from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles.