Etta James - Sunday Kind Of Love

Etta James Is Terminally Ill
Compiled by JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: December 18, 2011
nytimes.com

Etta James, the seminal R&B singer, is terminally ill, according to her doctor, Elaine James (who is not related to Etta James). Dr. James told The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., that family members were told two weeks ago that Ms. James’s chronic leukemia could not be cured. “I am Southern and Christian and would just ask for the prayers of her fans and friends,” Dr. James said. “They know she’s been sick, but not how sick.” Etta James, 73, has been among the most celebrated American blues singers for decades, recording enduring hits like “At Last,” “Tell Mama” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Her career was also influenced by drug addiction, troubled love relationships and health and legal problems. In 2010 she was hospitalized for a staph infection, and it became public that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and that she had been treated for dependence on painkillers. Dr. James has cared for Etta James, above, at her home in Riverside since March 2010, and she made the statements last week outside a hearing over control of Ms. James’s $1 million estate. Donato James, her son, has been fighting in court with her husband, Artis Mills, over who will be named the estate’s conservator.