Legendary Blues Singer Etta James Dies at 73

Etta James died on Friday at Riverside Community Hospital from complications of leukemia, she was 73.

“It’s a tremendous loss for her fans around the world,” he said. “She’ll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category,” said her manager Lupe De Leon.

“The bad girls … had the look that I liked,” James wrote in her 1995 autobiography, Rage to Survive. ”I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be.”

“It’s a tremendous loss for her fans around the world,” De Leon said. “She’ll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category.”

“Etta James was a pioneer. Her ever-changing sound has influenced rock and roll, rhythm and blues, pop, soul and jazz artists, marking her place as one of the most important female artists of our time,” said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Terry Stewart. “From Janis Joplin to Joss Stone, an incredible number of performers owe their debts to her. There is no mistaking the voice of Etta James, and it will live forever.”