Christina Aguilera was invited to Etta James’s funeral. I mean, I’m assuming she was invited, and she didn’t just show up and drunkenly hijack the funeral with her screeching. Not only was Christina invited, she performed “At Last” – Etta’s standard and one of her most beloved songs. While Etta’s performances of “At Last” were always sung beautifully and simply, allowing the emotion of the song and singer to come through, Christina treated the song like a drunken vocal exercise, of course, and began scream-singing immediately, like she always does. Like she was up there with an invisible stage full of Divas Live, and Christina wanted to make sure that you only heard her voice. This isn’t a debate about whether or not Christina CAN sing. She can. It’s about HOW she sings, the lack of emotional connection to the song, the “LOOK AT ME, I’M SINGING THE HELL OUT OF THIS SONG, BECAUSE IT‘S ALL ABOUT ME” quality to all of her recent public performances. Here’s Christina’s performance:

Ugh. If you think that was a good version of the song, you need to invest in better quality music.

Incidentally, Christina still managed to create a minor controversy with this performance. No, she didn’t drunkenly flub the lines (like she did when she sang the National Anthem), nor did she drunkenly bust her ass on the stage (like she did at the Grammys). No, people are wondering if Christina might have had some kind of loose-bowel situation during her performance. Gross, I know, but there are photos (which we don’t have access to) – go here to see the closeups at The Blemish. Many seem to think it’s urine, but I’m going to say it’s sweat. Sweat mixed with body makeup, because Christina looks like she just rolls around in a vat of orange foundation.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

As far as ladies singing the blues, I was always partial to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. But! I did have an Etta James album, and I wore it out. Her voice was like butter, rich and smooth. And now that voice is gone – Etta James has passed away at the age of 73. People Magazine has more details about Etta’s life and death:

Etta James, the powerful blues voice behind the chart-topping 1961 evergreen “At Last,” has died after a lengthy struggle with leukemia. She was 73.

Her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon, first confirmed the news to CNN. “This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world,” De Leon said. “She was a true original who could sing it all – her music defied category. I worked with Etta for over 30 years. She was my friend and I will miss her always.”

Because of her health concerns, James had curtailed her concerts in January 2010 to enter the hospital with a blood infection, among other ailments, including Alzheimer’s disease. In May 2011, James was again admitted to a hospital in Riverside, Calif., with a urinary tract infection and the blood infection sepsis, her son Sametto James told Reuters at the time.

The winner of four Grammys and a 1993 inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, James was portrayed in the 2008 movie Cadillac Records by Beyoncé Knowles. Christina Aguilera also cited James as a major influence.

“There’s a lot going on in Etta James’s voice,” Bonnie Raitt once told Rolling Stone, which ranked James 22nd on its list of the 100 Best Singers of All Time. “A lot of pain, a lot of life but, most of all, a lot of strength. She can be so raucous and down one song, and then break your heart with her subtlety and finesse the next. As raw as Etta is, there’s a great intelligence and wisdom in her singing.”

Born Jamesetta Hawkins
The Los Angeles-born James began singing in church and was discovered in 1954 by bluesman Johnny Otis, who amended her name from Jamesetta Hawkins. Over the next decade she built up a catalog of hits – “Roll with Me Henry,” “Call My Name” and “I’d Rather Go Blind” – along with an addiction to heroin. “It took over my life,” the 5’3″ singer told PEOPLE in 2006, shortly after she had successfully shed 235 of her 400 lbs. through gastric-bypass surgery. “You get up every day and look to score.”

Her drug problems landed husband Artis Mills (whom she married in 1969) behind bars from 1972 to 1982, when he took the fall for the couple’s arrest on heroin-possession charges. James made several trips to rehab, including a 17-month stint in the mid-’70s, without success. Finally, during a 1988 stay in the Betty Ford Clinic, just before her 50th birthday, this time for a codeine addiction, “I took back my life,” says James, who remained clean after that.

Among the Greats
Mills, who has been putting up a legal fight to wrest control of James’s reported $1 million estate from her sons Donto and Sametto James, survives the singing legend, as do her sons.

“Etta always comes through with feeling,” music biographer Peter Guralnick told PEOPLE in 2006. “She coexists with Aretha Franklin and Billie Holiday.”

[From People]

Etta was last in the news in 2009, just a few weeks after Barack Obama’s inauguration. Beyonce had covered “At Last” one of Etta’s standards, and Etta was not pleased about that, and she said so publicly. Thoughts and prayers to her family, and I hope Etta is in a better place now.

Here’s Etta doing “At Last”

“I’d Rather Go Blind”

And “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Remember Barack Obama’s inaugural dances with his beautiful wife Michelle? For their first dance of the night, Beyonce sang the classic song “At Last”, made famous by the immaculate Etta James many, many years ago. Beyonce’s version was very good – according to most people. But Etta James isn’t most people.

Etta’s laying a smackdown on Beyonce publicly. Etta dissed both Beyonce and Barack Obama at a recent concert saying, “You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears? Wait a minute, he ain’t my president, he might be yours, he ain’t my president. You know that woman he had singing for him, singing my song–she’s going to get her ass whipped.” Yikes. Take it easy, Etta.

Wow! There’s a new celebrity feud circulating around Hollywood. This one, between legendary singer Etta James and Beyonce.

James, known for her rendition of the classic song “At Last,” lashed out at Beyonce during a recent concert, criticizing her Inauguration performance during which she sang “At Last” for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

At a concert this week in Seattle, James said: “You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears? Wait a minute, he ain’t my president, he might be yours, he ain’t my president. You know that woman he had singing for him, singing my song–she’s going to get her ass whipped.”

James continues, “The great Beyonce. I can’t stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day, singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.”

While Etta James wasn’t the first person to make “At Last” famous, it’s her rendition of it that’s most well-known. Beyonce, who let’s not forget played Etta in the film Cadillac Records and has performed the tune many times including in front of the singer herself, was asked to perform it at the Inauguration.

This isn’t the first time Beyonce has stepped on toes more legendary than her own. Last February, Beyonce rubbed Aretha Franklin the wrong way when she listed her among the singers she considered beneath Tina Turner, during a speech to present Tina at the Grammys.

Is it a case of jealousy on the part of these older singers or is Beyonce displaying some diva-ish behavior?

From OK! Magazine

Alright, maybe Etta James could have made her point about “her” song without calling out President Obama as not being “her” president. It really seems like Etta is madder at Beyonce anyway, and that anger extends to anyone in Beyonce’s vicinity while she was singing “At Last”. Or perhaps Etta really didn’t like Beyonce’s portrayal of her in Cadillac Records? Beyonce’s a way better singer than actress.

Beyonce isn’t the most gracious of creatures, but I don’t think Etta James is being fair. It’s not Etta’s song exclusively – many people have done covers of “At Last” including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Christina Aguilera, amongst others. Still, this is a great smackdown, and I hope Beyonce responds.