Quote of The Day

"Etta James was my favorite. She seemed so raw. You could hear all her emotions. She would go low. She would hit those high notes. She hit them raw with a growl and an aggression. I wasn't sung so sweet; and to me that's great. Other songs from back in the day - not of course written by the women who sang them but by a bunch of men who deal out what these women should be singing - can be appalling. It's just crazy what was acceptable. Prime example: Billie Holiday used to sing the song 'Ain't Nobody's Business'. Two of the best lines are 'I'd rather my man would hit me than for him to jump up and quit me/Ain't nobody's business if I do' and 'I swear I won't call no copper/If I'm beat up by my papa.' But Etta came out, and she gave it to you raw. She was much more real than most. It took guts to be Etta James. I hear she will still take a man from the audience and she'd put his head in her crotch. She just goes to that point where other women would be afraid to go. Society has to criticize women for being open with their sexuality. Etta should get all the props in the world for being able to be that open and that strong. Etta really inspires me. I had young girls who looked up to me when I put out my first record: but, of course, that was not an honest representation of what I felt. My album, Stripped, is raw, emotionally real, kind of like Etta has always been. To have people appreciate the raw, honest me is what matters to me most. And I will only make honest, real music from here on out. That's what Etta has always done."

Christina on Etta James, 2002/3