Goodbye Etta James: We will always be looking for a Sunday kind of love

Of course she had nothing to do with classical music. Her past and her present were always a mess. But there was something very, very special about how Etta James could even get the attention of someone who didn’t usually listen to her kind of singin’.

She has died from Leukemia, aged 73.

There’s an excellent obituary story on the New York Times website.

On Sunday, the Guardian’s Observer magazine will include a few choice words from Adèle, who owes a lot to James’s no-emotional-holds-barred way of attacking our deepest emotions in song.

Adèle ends her personal story of seeing James live two years ago thus: “I met her backstage after the show, very briefly. My mind went completely blank. I didn’t know what to say. Afterwards, I was crying my eyes out.”

John Terauds