Search - Etta James :: The Essential Modern Records Collection

Capitol/EMI has compiled Etta James' earliest recordings for a new salute to the American music icon, titled The Essential Modern Records Collection. The collection spotlights 15 of James' first singles and b-sides, including the singer's debut, 1955's "The Wallflower" (aka "Roll With Me Henry"), which launched her legendary, decades-spanning career. Etta James began her professional recording career in 1954, auditioning at the age of 14 for bandleader Johnny Otis before recording her first singles for Modern Records in Los Angeles with her vocal group, The Peaches. Her first single, "The Wallflower" (aka "Roll With Me Henry"), an answer song to Hank Ballard's 1954 #1 R&B hit "Work With Me Annie," hit #1 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1955, and "Good Rockin' Daddy" reached #6 on the chart the same year. James shot into fame and was soon invited to tour with Little Richard and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, established artists of the day who would bear significant influence on her career. Other standout singles on the new Modern collection include "Tough Lover," recorded in New Orleans and featuring Lee Allen on saxophone, "W-O-M-A-N," an answer to Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man," and "The Pick-Up," in which Ms. James shares a sultry conversation with saxman Plas Johnson. Modern Records was founded in 1945 in Los Angeles by brothers Saul and Jules Bihari, and, with its RPM and other label divisions, became a leading source of blues and R&B music in the 1950s. The label's A&R team included Ike Turner, and artists who recorded for the label, in addition to Etta James, included Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Little Richard. Etta James has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, and she has been honored with the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and four GRAMMY Awards.