Etta James

 Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012)

James was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch. James's powerful, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In April 2009, at the age of 71, James made her final television appearance, performing "At Last" on the program Dancing with the Stars. James was hospitalized in January 2010 to treat an infection caused by MRSA, a bacterium resistant to most antibiotics. During her hospitalization, her son Donto revealed that she had received a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in 2008. She was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2011. The illness became terminal, and she died on January 20, 2012, just five days before her 74th birthday, at Parkview Hospital in Riverside, California. She is interred at Inglewood Memorial Park in Inglewood, California.