Etta James 1995 Interview

then to you your first Grammy Award Best jazz vocal performance 1994 mystery lady songs a Billie Holiday miss Etta James that was Etta James receiving a well deserved Grammy Award that was four hard decades in the making she had many many nominations her Hall of friends includes Aretha Franklin Tina Turner Chuck Berry Marvin Gaye James Brown at a sang with them partied with some of them and now she's written about them in her about them and of course her own life and her unlicensed unlicensed uncensored autobiography rage to survive we'd welcome you back to Lima 5 Adam at the top of that was the clip of you receiving a Grammy now this was a CD you weren't sure that she wanted to record no you know but I always loved Billie Holiday it has a child my mother was a real jazz lover and everything and so I had been through those same experiences and I just I said hey I got to do this and I'm not going to try to do it like Billie Holiday I just want to put that same feeling in the in the air you know what I mean remember the first time you saw her yeah matter of fact it was here in New York City and I think it was for NBC but it was NBC radio at that time and they had a show that they call the show jazz plus so equals blues and I didn't know which one I was I said I wonder because I was about 17 18 years old and Count Basie was there myself and then Billie Holiday was coming and I remember waiting for her to come because I want to see Lady Day and I sat there and we waited and she was late and finally the door swung open and there she was lady date was just like I mean Billie Holiday and she came to the door and there were two men with her one on each side hold her elbow yeah they were helping her with the elbows and she was walking in very slowly and I was looking at her from her head too to the top of her until my toes to a head and I looked in I noticed her feet she had only spaghetti strap shoes and her feet were very swollen and she was so then I realized they were really helping her to walk and then when she sat down she sat down about two seats away from me and I didn't want to really stare at her but I kind of look like I'm you know like am I at her and I looked at her hands and her hands were like boxing gloves that's the closest I could not goodness think about it and then she looked at me we finally locked eyes and she said to me she says are you looking at me she had that growling poised and I said yes don't let this ever happen to you and that's what was so strange it was like because I wasn't into drugs or I wasn't in just was a young girl who start singing and loved her as part of the women that I loved in show business and but I remembered when I later on became addicted all of that flash back on me is like College why did she tell me there why did she look into my eyes and say don't let this I mean what made her think that I I would try to take a guess I would say here is a young woman it's a 17 year old woman and she's big and bad enough to be out on this tour she's also big and bad enough to get into trouble it's probably what she saw and you had a quote I was a fool smart enough to know I was a fool dumb enough not to care not as a real fool so I mean maybe partially the reason why if I just take an order that's it and I and you know sue I have been a fool and I'm still a fool but you're alive and you're right according and and and you look wonderful you look healthy but more than that we won't look at a clip of you in the recording studio for your newest CD hush don't explain you're my joy yo don't be let me correct myself and say that was from mystery later that you got the Grammy for the new CD is time after time which is another album full of jazz tunes let's just talk about Minnesota Fats for a second but briefly to say that your mother would tell you different stories about who your dad was right but at one point she pointed the TV said Minnesota Fats that's your dad you saw the resemblance and and tell me what it was like when he finally ran into him in 1987 I went into the Nashville Tennessee and he was there and a friend of mine was with me and she called the hotel where he was and I said well and he says well sure come on down and he's this real animated thing you know it's just like the connection of all that I'm listening on the phone when she calls I said okay let's go on down we get a limousine and we go down to the hotel and he's sitting across the lobby and as we walk in but he had this little kind of little floozy with him kind of like a little country in western girl now I guess he must be what 85 years old and he was sitting there and as I came across as I came up the stairs I looked over to it toward the lobby and there he was sitting there and I was so scared I made my seat talking about butterflies I was so scared as I walked toward him he looked at me but then he kind of looked away it was like he didn't want to stare me down as I totally as I was looking at him coming toward him and this little floozy was sitting here and she was like yeah that's her she's coming in here what is this all about and I I met I assumed that he hadn't talked to her about anything because I had talked to him many many years ago on a phone in Talton Illinois and I said I don't want anything all I want to know is did you know this black lady girl named Dorothy yeah but quite naturally this girl was 14 years old so he's not going to admit he says I don't know he's got a go at it oh and gotta go isn't that terrible the fact is he did know a lot of the same people that ed his mother knew but it was just too long ago and he didn't remember the book is a fabulous book it is called raised to survive at a James the new CD is time after time when she recorded don't go to strangers which was Eddie Jones as hit record they've been confused all their life I don't know why she recorded it but it's a great great rendition and tomorrow you be signing books at the black books plus 702 after dam at 94th Street wonderful singing again editor thank you so much thank you so much thank you thank you that is it for this edition of live at five

Channel: BriguysMedia Surf

Views: 226,388

Rating: 4.8667994 out of 5

Keywords: soul, blues, Jazz

Id: I9ulE85NdQk

Length: 6min 58sec (418 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 22 2012