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CNN Saturday Morning News
Etta James at Monterey Jazz Festival
Aired September 21, 2002 - 09:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The famed Monterey Jazz Festival is under way in California this weekend, and legendary blues singer Etta James is among those performing.
As part of our coverage all weekend long, CNN's Daryn Kagan looks at the life of Etta James.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ETTA JAMES, BLUES SINGER (singing): Just come to Mama...
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She signs as though possessed, shimmying and gyrating and caressing each and every note like a long-lost love.
JAMES: They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I'm still 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 got to do something.
KAGAN: And so at 64, Etta James still dances, despite two bad knees and a life born of the blues.
JAMES (singing): At last, my love has come along...
Most of the songs I sing have that blue feeling, you know, they have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.
KAGAN: Once upon a time, Jamesetta Hawkins was a 5-year-old prodigy, singing about salvation in a South Central Los Angeles church. As word spread about the little girl with the big voice, the only person who never offered praise was Etta's own teenaged mother.
JAMES: The first time she saw me perform was at the Hollywood Bowl, it must have been three years ago. I remember her coming backstage, and she looked at me, she says, You know what? You can really sing.
KAGAN: Dorothy Hawkins died this past May, but she outlived the man rumored to be Etta's father, the legendary pool shark Minnesota Fats.
JAMES: As far as me knowing that's my father, I don't know, but he seemed like he was. Oh, and he gave us a picture. And when I got the picture, the picture looked just like Donato (ph), my oldest son. KAGAN: Donato (ph) and Sametto (ph), Etta's two sons, are members of her band. They will be with her as she performs this weekend at California's venerable Monterey Jazz Festival.
Etta says she brings them on the road to keep an eye on them. But in reality, they keep an eye on her.
JAMES: Wait a minute. Guys used to come and ask me, did I want a drink?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I don't know about a drink.
JAMES: They might have asked me if I wanted something else.
KAGAN: She's earned a Grammy, critical acclaim, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But she's also had her share of broken hearts, broken men, and, thankfully, a broken addiction to heroin. Etta James has seen it all.
JAMES (singing): I feel like sugar on the floor.
KAGAN: Maybe that's why she sings what she sings in that unmistakable manner. Maybe that's why she dances. Even her own granddaughter knows the score.
(on camera): Does Grandma shake her booty when she's out there?
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Uh-huh.
JAMES: Why do you tell on me and you won't tell on you?
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: I didn't shake my booty ever.
JAMES: You did shake your booty in Chicago.
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: No, I didn't. No, I didn't!
KAGAN: These days, Etta's life is back on track, and then some. But this is one lady who will always be happiest singing the blues.
JAMES: I can't be talking about the moon and the stars. It has to be something heavy, something heavy that I can say, That's right, that is right.
KAGAN: Daryn Kagan, CNN, Monterey, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 21, 2002 - 09:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The famed Monterey Jazz Festival is under way in California this weekend, and legendary blues singer Etta James is among those performing.
As part of our coverage all weekend long, CNN's Daryn Kagan looks at the life of Etta James.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ETTA JAMES, BLUES SINGER (singing): Just come to Mama...
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She signs as though possessed, shimmying and gyrating and caressing each and every note like a long-lost love.
JAMES: They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I'm still 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 got to do something.
KAGAN: And so at 64, Etta James still dances, despite two bad knees and a life born of the blues.
JAMES (singing): At last, my love has come along...
Most of the songs I sing have that blue feeling, you know, they have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.
KAGAN: Once upon a time, Jamesetta Hawkins was a 5-year-old prodigy, singing about salvation in a South Central Los Angeles church. As word spread about the little girl with the big voice, the only person who never offered praise was Etta's own teenaged mother.
JAMES: The first time she saw me perform was at the Hollywood Bowl, it must have been three years ago. I remember her coming backstage, and she looked at me, she says, You know what? You can really sing.
KAGAN: Dorothy Hawkins died this past May, but she outlived the man rumored to be Etta's father, the legendary pool shark Minnesota Fats.
JAMES: As far as me knowing that's my father, I don't know, but he seemed like he was. Oh, and he gave us a picture. And when I got the picture, the picture looked just like Donato (ph), my oldest son. KAGAN: Donato (ph) and Sametto (ph), Etta's two sons, are members of her band. They will be with her as she performs this weekend at California's venerable Monterey Jazz Festival.
Etta says she brings them on the road to keep an eye on them. But in reality, they keep an eye on her.
JAMES: Wait a minute. Guys used to come and ask me, did I want a drink?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I don't know about a drink.
JAMES: They might have asked me if I wanted something else.
KAGAN: She's earned a Grammy, critical acclaim, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But she's also had her share of broken hearts, broken men, and, thankfully, a broken addiction to heroin. Etta James has seen it all.
JAMES (singing): I feel like sugar on the floor.
KAGAN: Maybe that's why she sings what she sings in that unmistakable manner. Maybe that's why she dances. Even her own granddaughter knows the score.
(on camera): Does Grandma shake her booty when she's out there?
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Uh-huh.
JAMES: Why do you tell on me and you won't tell on you?
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: I didn't shake my booty ever.
JAMES: You did shake your booty in Chicago.
ETTA'S GRANDDAUGHTER: No, I didn't. No, I didn't!
KAGAN: These days, Etta's life is back on track, and then some. But this is one lady who will always be happiest singing the blues.
JAMES: I can't be talking about the moon and the stars. It has to be something heavy, something heavy that I can say, That's right, that is right.
KAGAN: Daryn Kagan, CNN, Monterey, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
