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My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble!

Etta James

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Etta James
Age: 73 †
Born: 1938
Born: January 25
Died: 2012
Died: January 20
Jazz Musician
Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
LA
California
Jamesetta Hawkins
Miss Peaches
Mother
Tunes
Wanted
Piano
Play
Jazz
Busy
Learned
Trouble
Getting
Fanatic
Wish
Fanatics

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All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore.
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Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.
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My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that.
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My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy.
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What happens is, when I perform, I'm somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am. I forget my troubles, my worries.
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I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.
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I'm not starry eyed, and I'm not money crazy.
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I like to shop, but I don't like to go out to dances.
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Bobby Womack is always very real, both with his music and as a person.
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I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute.
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When I look out at the people and they look at me and they're smiling, then I know that I'm loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems.
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I don't care who's playing. Even if it's my favorite artist, I'm probably not gonna go and see him.
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I've gone through so much in my life. I should have been dead a long time ago, but I am still here, and I'm the happiest I've ever been.
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It feels so good to be happy.
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I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last past Saturday night And I’d like to know it’s more than love at first sight
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My mother used to play nothing but Billie Holiday.
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Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.
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Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.
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A lot of people think the blues is depressing but that's not the blues I'm singing. When I'm singing blues, I singing life. People can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies.
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A few years ago, I thought, I'll never make it. I started to go to the doctor to help me lose weight.
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