Etta James
Tell Mama

My mother left me a decent collection of vinyls. Mostly 45 rpm records, which before the end of the '60s was the most common format. And the quality level of this collection is quite high. It ranges from Caterina Caselli to the early Celentano, from Modugno to Morricone, from Mina to Rocky Roberts, from Elvis Presley to Paul Anka, from Neil Sedaka to the Everly Brothers. Among the few 33 rpm records, there is one that has fascinated me since childhood. Guess which one.

I was fascinated by the sounds that came out of that black circle but also by the cover with the predominant chocolate brown. Tell Mama is one of those magical and enchanted records that after listening to it for the first time, you know you can't do without it.

Jamesetta Hawkins – renamed Etta James by Johnny Otis - has gone through enormous vicissitudes, pains, and difficulties. A life on the wrong side of the tracks that begins with her birth to an African American mother just fourteen years old and an Italian father twenty-five years old who never acknowledged her. Fairly light skin, therefore, in contrast with the African features, a particularity that contributed to creating problems for her, which she exaggerated by flaunting a platinum blonde hairstyle.

A prodigious singer, Etta - discovered at a young age by Johnny Otis and signed by Chess Records - is the quintessence of a Soul singer, endowed with a raw, dynamic, powerful yet also suave voice, perhaps less deep than Aretha Franklin, but above all, endowed with unparalleled passion.

Tell Mama is an epoch-making record, the highlight of the artist's discography, where R&B, Soul, and Blues alternate and merge in a vision of clear beauty that combines Etta's powerful and gritty voice finally with the right material and with excellent musicians like saxophonist Floyd Newman, keyboardist Spooner Oldham, and pianist Marvell Thomas. But in the summer of 1967, after spending the last period detoxifying at USC County Hospital and at Sybil Brand, the women's prison in Los Angeles, for drug offenses, no one, not even Etta herself, could have predicted she was about to record one of the best Soul albums ever.

Every song is a classic. The title track opens the album with a pounding bass and sharp horns that together with Etta's fierce singing create a soul gem equal to rival Aretha's "Respect." Sliding into a darker mood, Etta sings "I'd Rather Go Blind," a painful ballad and one of the great soul songs of her era. James' meditative voice soaring over the captivating tapestry of rhythmic guitar, organ, and drums brings out the visceral pain of the lyrics. It's said that when Leonard Chess heard the song for the first time, he left the room in tears. Followed by the rocking "Watch Dog" by Don Covay and the incredible "The Love of My Man," the sizzling cover of Otis Redding's "Security" and the country blues "Steal Away" by Jimmy Hughes, leading to the ironic and fast "My Mother-in-Law," the heartrending "It Hurts Me So Much," and the concluding funky-soul of "Just a Little Bit" (also famous in the garage-beat version by Them).

In the years that followed, Etta would continue on a tortuous and inconsistent path, enslaved by heroin and painkillers. However, by the late eighties, her production would undergo a revival. But as Paolo Conte sings, fate is cynical and tricky, so to the vicissitudes of drug addiction were added severe health problems and finally leukemia, which in 2012 took away this woman, so fragile yet also tenacious and rebellious. Etta is made of the same substance as Ray Charles, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, with a humanity enhanced by the harsh trials and sufferings life subjected her to.

Keith Richards said: “Etta James has a voice that comes from Heaven and Hell. Listen to the sister and you'll be caressed and devastated at the same time.”