Etta James & Johnny Otis
It’s been more than a week since the deaths of those two giant figures of American R&B: Johnny Otis, and his greatest discovery, Etta James. My initial comments on Otis’ death are in a post below, and they’ve both received significant media coverage, especially James, although Lynn Crosbie in the Globe & Mail this week wondered why it took her death for James to receive such wide recognition. “But if she is such a legend, why was she not pushed forward more in her life?” There was nothing simple, or easily mainstreamed, about the way James sang. Pure soul is … Continue reading