Etta James

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风格: #灵魂布鲁斯　#灵魂乐　#布鲁斯
地区: United States of America 美国

艺人介绍

etta james－好莱坞名人道上的一颗耀眼的星星，已年过六旬，这位女歌手有张圆脸，她眉毛修得短而细，眉线顺着眉尖往下勾，宛如下弦月，眼稍是涂得厚厚的眼影，随着弧线刻意往上飞翘。她右脸颊靠唇边有颗明显的痣，下巴短而尖，鼻头圆润显得没有心机。她在六○年代就把自己头发染成金黄，在当时的黑人灵魂乐界成为一个鲜明的标记。她歌唱时而嘶吼、时而低泣、时而欢愉、时而狂笑，深深影响后来的白人;歌手 Janis Joplin。这名女歌手又黑又亮的嗓音可以绕梁三日不绝。

这位女歌手到芝加哥求发展时，曾经爱恋过六○年代知名的灵魂乐团 Moonglows 主唱 Harvey Fuqua （另团员是 Marvin Gaye），当时年轻单纯的她无法不耽溺在自己对 Fuqua 的单相思中。她当时发片的曲子「If I Can't Have You」，还曾经与 Fuqua 甜蜜合唱过。尔后 Fuqua 赴底特律加入 Motown 唱片公司，娶了老板的女儿，二十一岁面临失恋打击的她，陷入海洛因毒瘾的梦魇，一直到七○年中期才慢慢戒掉。

这位女歌手，原名 Jamesetta Hawkins，为了便利歌迷记忆，打响新人第一炮，被当时挖掘她的灵魂乐手 Johnny Otis 改名为 Etta James。

Etta James。四十年来美国黑人女性歌手长春树。从福音诗歌、草根、节奏、灵魂乐、爵士乐，她惊人的 cross-over 的程度，简直可以和 Aretha Franklin、Dinah Washington 比美。这名被誉为灵魂乐黄金时代最重要的女歌手至今已经五十九岁，仍与 Private Music 签约，继续活跃于乐坛。

Etta James 于 1938 年 1 月 25 日在洛杉矶诞生。五岁时就加入 St. Paul Baptist Church「最大、最坏、也最正点」的诗班「亚当回音」（The Echoes of Eden」，影响了 Etta 后来声如洪钟、活力充沛的热力唱法。年幼的 Etta 常听母亲放 Billie Holiday 的唱片，且跟随母亲一起去洛杉矶闹区的戏院看当时西海岸知名的 Stan Kenton 大乐团表演，对于该乐团的白人歌手 June Christy 柔美的嗓音羡慕不已。一九五○年， Etta 随家人迁居旧金山，与姊姊 Abbye、朋友 Jean Mitchell 成立一个玩票性质的歌唱团体「Peaches」（后来 Peach 成为 Etta 的小名），唱一些当时广为流行的节奏布鲁斯畅销曲。

在灵魂歌手 Johnny Otis 的协助下，Etta James 正式踏入流行歌坛，她先与 Otis 录了一些歌曲，后来与 Richard Berry 合作，发行个人第一张专辑「The Wallflower」。有趣的是，唱片中有首原名「Roll with Me Henry」的曲子，由于许多广播电台认为「Rock」与「Roll」都有性暗示意涵（所以摇滚乐曾经被认为是猥亵的代名词？），曾经一度禁播，后来改名为「Dance with Me Henry」才得以过关，这首曲子让当时年仅十七岁的 Etta James 一举成名，快速爬升到节奏布鲁斯的排行榜。

六○年代 Etta James 从 Modern 转战 Chess 唱片公司，在制作人 Ralph Bass 和 Billy Davis 的协助下，至少录了二十几张极受欢迎的灵魂与节奏布鲁斯歌曲。她在 Chess 的精选集，历经唱片的数字革命已经翻了两翻，从早期单纯的 CD re-issues 到现在的 Chess 五十周年纪念唱盘（Tower 钱庄有售，但请货比三家免得伤钱），我猜后来买下 Chess 的 MCA 每压一张她的精选集，一定有种印钞票发横财的感觉。究竟有谁，有谁能够抗拒 Etta James 掏心掏肺、情感洋溢，血泪交织的唱腔？曾经付出至深至爱，却又得不到所爱之人响应的苦痛，妳我难道不曾经历过吗？

Etta James 忘情的感情宣泄与奔放热力，让我深深迷恋不已。她曾经是个叛逆的女孩，违抗母亲的愿望跑去唱「靡靡之音」，唱腔被媒体称之为「bawdy」(猥亵）。但如同所有在六○年代成长者，Etta 究竟只是一个搭上灵魂乐潮，有唱歌天赋的女人。她唱「All I Could Do Is Cry」、「I'd Rather Be Blind」时，在背景和声「嘟娃、嘟娃」的响应下，泣诉男人的无情与失恋的苦痛。难得的是，迥异于早期爵士女歌手，Etta 并非自怨自艾，她控诉着社会的无情，借着嘶吼把愤怒唱出来，「Tell Mama」是活泼自信的小曲，「Something's Got A Hold on Me」则深受童年参加诗班，演唱福音诗歌的影响。换言之，Etta James 唱歌时彷佛在说：「阮可能是歹看面，遂给你看轻，但是你要知道，阮也有不欢喜的时阵，千万不通软土深掘，因为，因为女性的心声 -- 汝甘知？」

Few R&B singers have endured tragic travails on the monumental level that Etta James has and remain on earth to talk about it. The lady's no shrinking violet; her autobiography, Rage to Survive, describes her past (including numerous drug addictions) in sordid detail.

But her personal problems have seldom affected her singing. James has hung in there from the age of R&B and doo wop in the mid-'50s through soul's late-'60s heyday and right up into the '90s and 2000s (where her 1994 disc Mystery Lady paid loving jazz-based tribute to one of her idols, Billie Holiday). Etta James' voice has deepened over the years, coarsened more than a little, but still conveys remarkable passion and pain.

Jamesetta Hawkins was a child gospel prodigy, singing in her Los Angeles Baptist church choir (and over the radio) when she was only five years old under the tutelage of Professor James Earle Hines. She moved to San Francisco in 1950, soon teaming with two other girls to form a singing group. When she was 14, bandleader Johnny Otis gave the trio an audition. He particularly dug their answer song to Hank Ballard & the Midnighters' &Work With Me Annie.&

Against her mother's wishes, the young singer embarked for L.A. to record &Roll With Me Henry& with the Otis band and vocalist Richard Berry in 1954 for Modern Records. Otis inverted her first name to devise her stage handle and dubbed her vocal group the Peaches (also Etta's nickname). &Roll With Me Henry,& renamed &The Wallflower& when some radio programmers objected to the original title's connotations, topped the R&B charts in 1955.

The Peaches dropped from the tree shortly thereafter, but Etta James kept on singing for Modern throughout much of the decade (often under the supervision of saxist Maxwell Davis). &Good Rockin' Daddy& also did quite well for her later in 1955, but deserving follow-ups such as &W-O-M-A-N& and &Tough Lover& (the latter a torrid rocker cut in New Orleans with Lee Allen on sax) failed to catch on.

James landed at Chicago's Chess Records in 1960, signing with their Argo subsidiary. Immediately, her recording career kicked into high gear; not only did a pair of duets with her then-boyfriend (Moonglows lead singer Harvey Fuqua) chart, her own sides (beginning with the tortured ballad &All I Could Do Was Cry&) chased each other up the R&B lists as well. Leonard Chess viewed James as a classy ballad singer with pop crossover potential, backing her with lush violin orchestrations for 1961's luscious &At Last& and &Trust in Me.& But James' rougher side wasn't forsaken — the gospel-charged &Something's Got a Hold on Me& in 1962, a kinetic 1963 live LP (Etta James Rocks the House) cut at Nashville's New Era Club, and a blues-soaked 1966 duet with childhood pal Sugar Pie De Santo, &In the Basement,& ensured that.

Although Chess hosted its own killer house band, James traveled to Rick Hall's Fame studios in Muscle Shoals in 1967 and emerged with one of her all-time classics. &Tell Mama& was a searing slice of upbeat Southern soul that contrasted markedly with another standout from the same sessions, the spine-chilling ballad &I'd Rather Go Blind.& Despite the death of Leonard Chess, Etta James remained at the label into 1975, experimenting toward the end with a more rock-based approach.

There were some mighty lean years, both personally and professionally, for Miss Peaches. But she got back on track recording-wise in 1988 with a set for Island, Seven Year Itch, that reaffirmed her Southern soul mastery. Her following albums have been a varied lot — 1990's Sticking to My Guns was contemporary in the extreme; 1992's Jerry Wexler-produced The Right Time, for Elektra, was slickly soulful, and her most other '90s outings have explored jazz directions. In 1998, she also issued a holiday album, Etta James Christmas. She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and in 2003 received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. That year also saw the release of her Let's Roll album, followed in 2004 by a CD of new blues performances, Blues to the Bone, both on RCA Records. James then shifted gears and released an album of pop standards, All the Way, on RCA in 2006.

In concert, Etta James is a sassy, no-holds-barred performer whose suggestive stage antics sometimes border on the obscene. She's paid her dues many times over as an R&B and soul pioneer; long may she continue to shock the uninitiated.

Etta James　埃塔·詹姆士

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Etta James 埃塔·詹姆士

艺人介绍

热门评论

最新简评（共317条）

Etta James　埃塔·詹姆士