Jamesetta

Jamesetta Hawkins, better known by her stage name Etta James, was an American singer whose voice helped define blues- and soul-infused R&B across five decades. Born January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, she began singing in church and local clubs, rising to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s with a string of rhythm and blues recordings.

Her 1960 ballad "At Last" became her signature song and a standard of American popular music. Across her career she fused blues, gospel, jazz, and R&B, recording for labels including Modern and Chess and later releasing material that kept her in the public eye into the 1990s and beyond. She won six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, recognizing her influence on soul and contemporary music.

James faced personal and health challenges, including struggles with addiction in the 1950s and 1960s, yet she maintained a resilient stage presence and continued to perform and record after rehabilitation. Her later work included collaborations and reinterpretations of classic material, expanding her reach to new audiences.

James died on January 20, 2012, in Riverside, California, from leukemia. Her legacy endures in her seminal recordings—most famously "At Last"—and in the generations of artists she influenced, whose work draws on her seamless blend of blues, gospel, and jazz-inflected phrasing. Jamesetta Hawkins is thus remembered as the birth name of a performer who became Etta James, a cornerstone of American music.