Quote

My mother used to play nothing but Billie Holiday.

Etta James

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Holiday
Mother
Used
Nothing
Play
Billie

More quotes by Etta James

Image
My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy.
Etta James
Image
When I'm performing for the people, I am me, then. I am that little girl who, when she was five years old, used to sing at church. Or I'm that 15-year-old young lady who wanted to be grown and wanted to sing and couldn't wait to be smokin' a cigarette, you know?
Etta James
Image
I like to shop, but I don't like to go out to dances.
Etta James
Image
My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.
Etta James
Image
I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute.
Etta James
Image
When Malcolm X was assassinated I was working at the Apollo. They brought his body to the Unity Funeral Home, which was around the corner.
Etta James
Image
It feels so good to be happy.
Etta James
Image
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.
Etta James
Image
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.
Etta James
Image
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.
Etta James
Image
I'm not starry eyed, and I'm not money crazy.
Etta James
Image
Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.
Etta James
Image
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
Image
You know, YOUR President, the one with the big ears-he ain't my President - had that woman singing for him at his Inauguration. She's going to get her [expletive] whooped. How dare Beyonce sing MY song that I been singing forever. Now I'm going to sing it for y'all.
Etta James
Image
Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.
Etta James
Image
I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.
Etta James
Image
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.
Etta James
Image
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
Etta James
Image
All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore.
Etta James
Image
It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.
Etta James