Aretha! and Etta~

[Lady Cop]

i love Aretha! and was saddened to read this. in truth, pancreatic cancer is usually a death sentence. and usually goes fast. R*E*S*P*E*CT* Aretha!

that's what killed Luciano Pavarotti whom i worshipped.
and a very good friend last year, young. it went very fast from diagnosis to the end.


Following news of Aretha Franklin's cancer diagnosis, the legendary singer's cousin said she is "doing better than doctors expected" and will be released from the hospital this weekend.

Brenda Corbett said Franklin "has a long life in front of her and will be back in concert, on stage, late spring or early summer," according to the Detroit Free Press.

Reverend Jesse Jackson has visited the Detroit native in the hospital several times since her surgery, and told the Detroit News that she is "recovering, and her spirits are high. She's doing very well. She's very prayerful."

In November, the Hall of Fame singer announced she was taking a six month break per her doctor's orders. She canceled all upcoming performances and personal appearances, but did not reveal her illness.

When news broke last week that Franklin, 68, was undergoing an unspecified medical procedure, she received an enormous outpouring of support from concerned fans worldwide.

"The surgery was highly successful," she said the day after. "God is still in control. I had superb doctors and nurses whom were blessed by all the prayers of the city and the country. God bless you all for your prayers!"

Soon after her surgery, however, The Detroit News learned from sources close to the singer's family that Franklin is battling incurable pancreatic cancer.

The National Enquirer suggested the singer's diagnosis was actually made several months ago, when she visited her doctor after slipping in the shower.

The Enquirer "claims doctors made the glum diagnosis after Aretha broke her ribs in a shower fall over the summer."

While the singer's family has remained understandably quiet about addressing Franklin's specific diagnosis, the possibility of losing this music icon would be an unfathomable loss to the music community.

"This would be as tragic as it gets," Brian Pastoria, a Detroit studio operator who has worked with Franklin several times, told the Detroit Free Press.

"Aretha has inspired so many artists, so many people, all while being such a great ambassador for Detroit." he added. "I hope she can miraculously beat this, because we need her spirit moving forward."

[Maggot]

She should sing and record as much as possible now, she would live forever. Release a few songs every year, I know that Micheal Jackson will still be doing new records for quite a while and Elvis should have done it also.

[bampton]

Sad. Pancreatic cancer is horribly painful.

[Cracker]

I have seen her perform several times. I hope the National Enquirer is wrong. There is nothing better than a table at the amphitheater with a picnic basket full of good food, champagne, and listening to Aretha sing. (Except the part of the show when she brings out her son to perform, he sucks. Really bad rap.)

[Lady Cop]

sadly, her family members confirmed it.

[Lady Cop]

reports say Aretha is doing very well! i'm glad to hear it.

now this sad note:
AZ Central
Etta James has leukemia and is also suffering from dementia.

James is reportedly so ill her husband of 41 years Artis Mills has filed a court order to take control of more than $1 million of her money.

In documents filed at a California court he has claimed his wife is unable to manage her finances due to her condition. Dr. Elaine James, who is no relation, added in the court documents that the singer cannot sign her name and she needs help with feeding, dressing and hygiene.

According to the Riverside Press Enterprise he said in court documents his wife expressed that "if she ever became disabled, she did not wish to be placed in an institutional nursing facility as long as they had the money to keep her at home".

However Artis faces objections from son Donto James, who along with his brother Sametto James and wife Christy was given power of attorney by the singer in 2008.

Donto's court filing says he is happy to release the money to cover the costs of his mother's medical treatment, but he would prefer for a third party to be placed in charge "to avoid present and future family conflict and discrepancies".

A hearing at a Riverside County court in California is scheduled for Friday.

[username]

She desperately needs a new bra; I'm not sure they'll be able to find her pancreas under those boobs.

[Lady Cop]

latest on Etta:

(CNN) -- Legendary singer Etta James has been hospitalized with a blood infection, her son told CNN Friday.

Sametto James said his 73-year-old mother was admitted to a hospital in Southern California on Monday due to a urinary tract infection that led to sepsis. She remained in the hospital Friday, he said.

"She's doing a little bit better, but she's not out of the woods quite yet," Sametto James said.

Etta James, best known for her 1961 hit "At Last," was hospitalized in 2010 due to a dangerous staph infection. She was diagnosed in 2009 with Alzheimer's disease.

[Maggot]

All the greats will be gone soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edGDt5izx...page#t=53s

[WolfHouse]

I have seen her perform several times. I hope the National Enquirer is wrong. There is nothing better than a table at the amphitheater with a picnic basket full of good food, champagne, and listening to Aretha sing. (Except the part of the show when she brings out her son to perform, he sucks. Really bad rap.)

As much as I love her, and I hope she is indeed healthy, I put my
money on a Leonard Cohen concert. Oh, what an experience. Toke.

[Lady Cop]

12/16/11

sad news today about Etta. i love her.

Etta James terminally ill
Etta James has been battling health issues, but the "At Last" singer's manager and friend Lupe De Leon tells CNN that she's now terminally ill.

“Etta James is at the last stages of her terminal illness," De Leon says.

The singer, 73, was diagnosed with leukemia along with hepatitis C over a year ago, and with Alzheimer's disease in 2009. The singer is currently residing at her home in Riverside, California, under the care of her doctor and husband.

According to De Leon, who was at James' home on December 10, she's on oxygen and resting, mostly. Her sons do live close by and visit often, De Leon says.

James was previously hospitalized in January of 2010 as she battled a serious infection, and was hospitalized in May due to sepsis.

[ramseycat]

I love the song At Last. **sigh**

[cannongal]

i love Aretha! and was saddened to read this. in truth, pancreatic cancer is usually a death sentence. and usually goes fast. R*E*S*P*E*CT* Aretha!

Following news of Aretha Franklin's cancer diagnosis, the legendary singer's cousin said she is "doing better than doctors expected" and will be released from the hospital this weekend.

I hope she keeps her spirits up. She had such an exuberance in her performances.

I don't know if I've heard Etta, I'll have to look her up.

[Lady Cop]

[Lady Cop]

i just heard Etta James died.
RIP great lady.



(CNN) -- Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last," has died, according to her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.

She died from complications from leukemia with her husband, Artis Mills, and her sons by her side, De Leon said.

She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010, and also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C. James died at a hospital in Riverside, California. She would have turned 74 Wednesday.

" This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world," De Leon said. "She was a true original who could sing it all -- her music defied category.

"I worked with Etta for over 30 years. She was my friend and I will miss her always."
2003: Etta James reflects on her career

The powerhouse singer, known as "Miss Peaches," lived an eventful life. She first hit the charts as a teenager, taking "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)" -- an "answer record" to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie" -- to No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1955. She joined Chess Records in 1960 and had a string of R&B and pop hits, many with lush string arrangements. After a mid-decade fade, she re-emerged in 1967 with a more hard-edged, soulful sound.

Throughout her career, James overcame a heroin addiction, opened for the Rolling Stones, won six Grammys and was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite her ups and downs -- including a number of health problems -- she maintained an optimistic attitude.

"Most of the songs I sing, they have that blue feeling to it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about," she told CNN's Denise Quan in 2002. "I don't!"

Through it all, she was a spitfire beloved by contemporaries and young up-and-comers.

"Etta James is unmanageable, and I'm the closest thing she's ever had to a manager," Lupe DeLeon, her manager of 30-plus years, told CNN in admiration.

British songstress Adele named James as one of her favorite singers, along with Aretha Franklin.

"If you were to look up the word singer in the dictionary, you'd see their names," Adele said in an interview.

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a teen mother and unknown father. (She suspected her father was the pool player Minnesota Fats.)

Her birth mother initially took little responsibility and James was raised by a series of people, notably a pair of boardinghouse owners. But she was recognized from a young age for her booming voice, showcased in a South Central Los Angeles church.

In 1950, her mother took her to San Francisco, where James formed a group called the Peaches. Singer Johnny Otis, best known for "Willie and the Hand Jive," discovered her and had her sing a song he wrote using Ballard's tune as a model. "The Wallflower," with responses from "Louie Louie" songwriter Richard Berry, made James an R&B star.

Her signing to Chess introduced her to a broader audience, as the record label's co-owner, Leonard Chess, believed she should do pop hits. Among her recordings were "Stormy Weather," the Lena Horne classic originally from 1933; "A Sunday Kind of Love," which dates from 1946; and most notably, "At Last," a 1941 number that was originally a hit for Glenn Miller.

James' version of "At Last" starts out with swooning strings and the singer enters with confident gusto, dazzlingly maintaining a mood of joy and romance. Though the song failed to make the Top 40 upon its 1961 release -- though it did hit the R&B Top 10 -- its emotional punch has long made it a favorite at weddings.

James' career suffered in the mid-'60s when the British Invasion took over the pop charts and as she fought some personal demons. But she got a boost when she started recording at Rick Hall's FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Her hits included the brassy "Tell Mama" and the raw "I'd Rather Go Blind," the latter later notably covered by Rod Stewart.

She entered rehab in the 1970s for her drug problem but re-established herself with live performances and an album produced by noted R&B mastermind Jerry Wexler. After another stint in rehab -- this time at the Betty Ford Clinic -- she made a comeback album, "Seven Year Itch," in 1988.

James mastered a range of styles -- from R&B and soul to jazz and blues -- but she was always one step behind the popular genre of the day, said Michael Coyle, a Colgate University professor who has written about jazz and R&B and reviews records for Cadence Magazine.

"She never really got her moment in the sun," Coyle said.

But James soldiered on, and by the end of her life she had made so much meaningful music that she was considered a living legend. "By the mid-'90s, she's survived so long that people start to look up to her," Coyle said.

James was portrayed by pop star Beyonce in the 2008 film "Cadillac Records," about Chess. After Beyonce sang "At Last" at one of President Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural balls, James lashed out: "I can't stand Beyonce. She had no business up there singing my song that I've been singing forever." She later told the New York Daily News she was joking.

Earlier this year, news reports revealed that the singer's estate was being contested in a legal struggle between her husband, Artis Mills, and son Donto James. (Donto and her other son, Sametto, both played in her band.)

Over the years, James had her share of health problems. In the late 1990s she reportedly weighed more than 400 pounds and required a scooter to get around. In 2003 she had gastric bypass surgery and dropped more than half the weight, according to People magazine.

However, until her latest issues, James maintained a steady touring schedule and appeared full of energy even when sitting down -- as she sometimes did on stage, due to bad knees and her weight battles.

Even while sitting down, James gave it her all on stage, singing as though possessed, caressing every note like a long-lost love. If that seemed a little much to critics, well, the legendary singer had a show to put on, she told Quan.

"They said that Etta James is still vulgar," she said in the 2002 interview. "I said, 'Oh, how dare 'em say I'm still real vulgar! I'm vulgar because I dance in the chair?' What would they want me to do? Want me to just be still or something like that?

"I gotta do something."

[QueenBee]

[Lady Cop]

Etta's funeral today. RIP

[Duchess]

She sure is white.