Etta James is widely regarded as one of the finest female blues, R&B and soul singers of the modern era, second only in some eyes to Aretha Franklin - Atlantic's Jerry Wexler called her "the greatest of all modern blues singers". After a chequered early life, she was discovered in Los Angeles singing with a vocal group at the age of 16 by Johnny Otis, who signed her to Modern, and she scored an R&B No. 1 in 1955 with her debut recording "The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry)", a re-working of Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie", following it up with another Top 10 R&B hit "Good Rockin' Daddy".
After recording briefly for Modern subsidiary Kent, she signed to the Chess label, and began recording material that combined the intensity of R&B with the accessibility of pop and the Polish of jazz, switching to the Chess sister label Argo in 1960, and hitting the pop and R&B charts with more than fifteen records between 1960 and '62, including Top 5 successes like "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", "At Last", "Trust In Me" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me", before aspects of her life began to unravel in subsequent years.
This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises all her A & B sides during those first important years of her career, plus a bonus album version of "Dance With Me Henry", so it's a comprehensive overview of her early work.
- The Wallflower (Roll with Me Henry) - Etta James & the Peaches
- Hold Me Squeeze Me - Etta James & the Peaches
- Hey Henry
- Be Mine
- Good Rockin Daddy
- Crazy Feeling
- W-O-M-A-N
- That's All
- Number One
- I'm a Fool
- Tears of Joy
- Shortin' Bread Rock
- Tough Lover
- Fools We Mortals Be
- Good Lookin'
- Then I'll Care
- Market Place
- The Pick-Up
- By the Light of the Silvery Moon
- Come What May
- Sunshine of Love
- Baby, Baby Every Night
- I Hope You're Satisfied - Betty & Dupree
- If It Ain't One Thing - Betty & Dupree
- How Big a Fool
- If I Can't Have You - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
- My Heart Cries - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
- Spoonful - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
- It's a Crying Shame - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
- All I Could Do Was Cry
- Boy of My Dreams
- My Dearest Darling
- Tough Mary
- At Last
- I Just Want to Make Love to You
- Trust in Me
- Anything to Say You're Mine
- Fool That I Am
- Dream
- Don't Cry, Baby
- Sunday Kind of Love
- It's Too Soon to Know
- Seven Day Fool
- Something's Got a Hold on Me
- Waiting for Charlie to Come Home
- Stop the Wedding
- Street of Tears
- Next Door to the Blues
- Fools Rush in
- How Do You Speak to An Angel
- Would It Make Any Difference to You
- Dance with Me Henry