Pioneering R&B singer Etta James was saluted at her funeral service Saturday by fellow musicians, including Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, and eulogized by the Rev. Al Sharpton as an artist who not only "changed the world of music [but] the cultural paradigm of the United States."
Best known for the rapturous joy or primal ache she brought to ballads of love and heartbreak such as "At Last," "I'd Rather Go Blind" and "All I Could Do Was Cry," James, who died Jan. 20 at age 73, also was lauded for overcoming adversity and persevering long enough to see a career renaissance that included multiple Grammy Awards, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a hit Hollywood film based on her life and numerous other accolades.
Sharpton, who officiated at the private ceremony at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, lauded James because she "flipped the switch on the script" that at some points in her tumultuous life veered perilously close to ending on a note of tragedy.
Instead, James held on through years during which heroin addiction or obesity made it more difficult to get concert bookings or record company support to extend her legacy of recordings that stretched back to "The Wallflower, " her first hit in 1955, when she was just 17. Her recordings in the 1950s and early '60s, Sharpton said, united listeners of different races "before the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
Sharpton preceded his own comments by reading a message sent by President Obama in which the chief executive said, "Etta will be remembered for her legendary voice and for her many contributions to our nation's musical heritage."
Her scorchingly raw vocal style also influenced successive generations of singers —male and female, black and white — including Aguilera, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and the woman who had the biggest hit single and album of 2011, British soul singer Adele.
In her turn on stage, Aguilera told the audience that James was the singer she most admired and long tried to emulate, then elicited some of the same raspy, dusky tones that were James' hallmark as she sang "At Last," a song Aguilera said she includes at every performance in honor of her role model.
Wonder sang "Shelter From the Rain," accompanying himself on an electronic keyboard, and then offered an a cappella rendition of "The Lord's Prayer" in front of several hundred family members, friends, associates and fans who attended the two-hour service, after which a line of cars proceeded to her burial at Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Title : Christina Aguilera At Etta James Funeral
Description : Pioneering R&B singer Etta James was saluted at her funeral service Saturday by fellow musicians, including Stevie Wonder and Christina ...