From 'At Last' to 'I'd Rather Go Blind,' her recordings hold a raw emotional depth.
If you want to hear what she could do with a ballad, start with 'At Last.' For something with more grit, try 'I'd Rather Go Blind.'
When she recorded 'At Last' in 1960 for Atlantic, it became more than just a song, it became a standard. Her performances of tracks like 'I'd Rather Go Blind' and 'Stormy Weather' showed how she could take a lyric and make it feel lived-in. Even later albums like 'Blues to the Bone' in 2004 kept that connection to the blues tradition alive.
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles in 1938, she grew up listening to Dinah Washington and Bessie Smith. She recorded 'Tell Mama' in 1968 and 'Lotus' in 1973, sometimes performing with a backing group called The Peaches. She kept working through personal struggles, maintaining that voice that carried so much weight.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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