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Etta James (1978)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, 12 July 1978

Etta takes us from 'Roll With Me Henry' to the present day: Johnny Otis; Modern Records and the Biharis; the move to Chess Records and hitting with 'All I Could Do Was Cry'; the end of Chess and working with Rick Hall, and the almost complete absence of royalties in her hit-making days.

File format: mp3; file size: 73.1mb, interview length: 1h 16' 08" sound quality: ****

Etta James: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Cliff White, NME, 22 July 1978

THEY PROBABLY don't realise it but The Who once dedicated an album to Etta James. Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy it was called, and by ...

Etta James, Allen Toussaint: Jerry Wexler: Producer with a Fan's Passion

Interview by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, August 1978

ON A BLEAK, sunless afternoon, Jerry Wexler sits comfortably in the shadows of a recording studio control room, listening to the playback of a vocal ...

Etta James' long search for stardom

Interview by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1978

IT IS A cruel irony that had she not been a junkie for thirteen of her forty years, Etta James would probably still be working ...

Etta James: Soul Punk Etta: Superstardom the Hard Way on a Dollar a Day

Profile and Interview by Cliff White, NME, 19 August 1978

"THANKSGIVING DAY in November will be my silver anniversary: 25 years since I cut my first record and I haven't become a superstar yet. It ...

Etta James: Betta than evva!

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 29 August 1978

Having licked a serious drug problem, Etta is climbing to the top again and has been delighting audiences on the road with the Rolling Stones, ...

Patti LaBelle: Nobody's fool

Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979

AN EMPTY hotel restaurant reverberates with the sound of waiters shovelling ice. In a corner, wearing black leather trousers, a zipped jacket and a black ...

Dyan Diamond, Kim Fowley, Helen Reddy: Kim Fowley: Prince Of Dog Food

Profile and Interview by Radio Pete, New York Rocker, July 1979

KIM FOWLEY has been called everything from "a rancid pimp" to "an egomaniac hustler who pushes shit groups out of the toilets of pop music." ...

Little Feat, Lowell George: Lowell George: The Rock'n'Roll Doctor

Obituary by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 July 1979

Of all the hundreds of white boys who fell in love with the blues, few used the idiom with such brilliance as Lowell George. Singer, ...

Minnie Riperton, Van McCoy: Van McCoy, Minnie Riperton Cut Down in Their Prime

Obituary by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979

WHEN LOWELL George died, a kind of half-hearted black joke about 'the season starting' was popular on many lips. In the brief space since his ...

Etta James: L.A.'s Soul Queen

Interview by Bill Bentley, LA Weekly, 17 April 1980

A YEAR AGO, Etta James stopped time as surely as if she had point-blanked a Timex with a .357. ...

X: Beyond the Valley of the Doors

Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 28 June 1980

HOLLYWOOD PUNK. Sounds about as real and desirable as cocktail-lounge muzak. If there's anything genuine or worthwhile in there it certainly isn't easy to find. ...

X....Communication

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 29 August 1981

FIRST THINGS FIRST. When X get to England (sometime in September hopefully) see them. They're good. ...

Johnny Otis

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, New York Rocker, February 1982

IT'S BECOMING readily apparent that one salient characteristic of the first batch of Los Angeles bands (let's leave those lovable beach punks out of this) ...

Joe Tex: Ain't Gonna Bump No More

Obituary by Cliff White, NME, 28 August 1982

Soul legend Tex is dead ...

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard & The Midnighters: From The Sins Of Annie To The Twist

Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, March 1983

IT WAS TOWARDS the end of 1951 that Johnny Otis (born John Veliotes; he found it gainful to pass as black), the 30-year-old Savoy recording ...

Lone Justice: Country Not For Clods

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 14 July 1983

THERE'S A scene in The Last Picture Show in which Ben Johnson confronts a crowd of kids who, as a prank, have set up a ...

X: Guitars Against The Golden State

Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Face, April 1984

They've been called The Last American Rock Band. It's a tag they hate. ...