News featuring Etta James

Thursday 16th May

• “Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa: Seesaw – review”

  (Provogue Records)

  Joe Bonamassa is a guitar hero and blues-rocker with impressively eclectic taste. A one-time child prodigy who opened for his admirer BB King when he was just 12, he has developed an interest in blues-related music of every kind, and this second collaboration with the versatile Californian singer Beth Hart is remarkable for its bravery. There are covers of songs made famous by anyone from Billie Holiday to Tina Turner, Buddy Miles or Slackwax. The mood constantly changes, from a brash and brassy Them There Eyes, recorded by Holiday in the Thirties, to an efficiently rocked-up Nutbush City Limits, or fine bluesy vocals and guitar work on I Love You Know More Than You'll Ever Know. Then there's a slinky reworking of an Etta James song, and even a daring, brooding and angry treatment of Strange Fruit. Hart is no Nina Simone, but this is no embarrassment.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Monday 4th February

• “New Band Up North: Amy Holford”

  Each week, Emily Brinnand digs through the sounds of the North, picking one artist or band she thinks you should take notice of

  Armed with her acoustic guitar and powerful voice, Newcastle singer songwriter Amy Holford, is making breathtakingly beautiful music full of sorrow, soul and heartache, which brings you to a standstill. Every word she sings oozes with passion, sadness and the aches and pains of life.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Sunday 3rd February

• “Beyoncé has earned our respect | Nadifa Mohamed”

  Her Super Bowl performance tonight shows she's avoided the tragedies that have beset so many black women musicians

  If there was any time that Beyoncé needed her alter ego Sasha Fierce it was last week, when she was forced to suffer the indignity of being compared to a drug cheat, horse meat and accused of bringing the whole US government into disrepute after lip-syncing at the presidential inauguration. The wan figure glimpsed rehearsing for her Super Bowl performance tonight couldn't have been more removed from the almost superhuman pop machine we saw working the indieboys into a frenzy at Glastonbury; just big knickers and a gold sequined jacket protecting her modesty, a blond mane as big as the lion's in the Wizard of Oz and tireless legs thumping the floor as hard as pistons.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Monday 21st January

• “Beyoncé's performance an inauguration hit”

  2013 inauguration swaps Aretha for Kelly Clarkson, and Yo-Yo Ma for James Taylor, but Obama's mother-in-law steals the show

  At the first inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, Beyoncé sang the famous Etta James standard, At Last, as the Obamas danced together at an inaugural ball. Standing over the swaying couple, she seemed like the country's fairy godmother, letting us know that at last all things were possible. This time she appeared as queen, appointing the leader to his second term.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Thursday 10th January

• “Beyoncé to sing at Obama inauguration”

  Singer to perform US national anthem at second presidential inauguration ball. Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor also on bill

  Beyoncé is to sing The Star-Spangled Banner at Barack Obama's second presidential inauguration ball, which will feature enough musical guests to rival a TV variety show – also on the bill are Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Monday 24th December

• “2012 review: notable deaths in music”

  See what the Guardian had to say about over 30 notable musicians who died this year - from Whitney and Adam Yauch to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar

  Read the Observer's 2012 obituaries special

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Saturday 22nd December

• “Remembered by Reverend Al Sharpton”

  She brought about a huge change in music, and bridged America's cultural and racial divide

  Blues and gospel singer Etta James strongly influenced other pop and soul artists from the mid-1950s onwards. Rev Al Sharpton met her while he was working for the musician James Brown.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Friday 30th November

• “The Rolling Stones can't be all cynical – they've long promoted other bands”

  Tempted to view the Stones bringing Florence Welch onstage as cheap credibility chasing? Their history suggests otherwise

  You might have sighed a little, surveying the latest reports of the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary shows. So Florence Welch came up on stage to sing Gimme Shelter with them, did she? Look at the old men, co-opting a bit of youth to make them look like they know what's going on. Pah! If they really wanted to make a statement they'd have got Bat for Lashes, or Flying Lotus, or Cooly G, or [insert favoured credible act here].

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk

Thursday 8th November

• “1950s-style singer takes stage at Colonial Inn in Concord”

  Janice Dompke describes herself as “an ’80s girl,” but that’s only in reference to her age, not her musical proclivities. Though she was raised in the 1980s, the Berkshires-based vocalist has always loved singing the tunes of the 1930s and 1940s, and more recently added the ’50s and ’60s to her repertoire. On Nov. 10, Dompke will appear for the first time at Concord’s Colonial Inn, along with the Workingman’s Band, to perform a musical tribute to rock and pop icons of the 1950s and 1960s including Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, the Shirelles, and Etta James.
  
  
  

  Read the complete article at feeds.boston.com

Thursday 1st November

• “A week in radio: Lou Reed's New York Shuffle”

  A properly eclectic selection of tunes, inspired by the passions of two drawling hosts

  With New York in the news this week, it was odd at first not to hear mention of that on Lou Reed's New York Shuffle (6 Music). But these shows, co-hosted with producer Hal Willner, were recorded a while back, so it began with a tribute to Etta James, who had just died as they put the show together in February.

  Read the complete article at www.guardian.co.uk