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LOS ANGELES: Grammy-winning blues and soul singer Etta James, most famous for her signature song “At Last,” has been hospitalized, her son said Friday.
The 73-year-old, who is suffering from leukemia and dementia, was admitted to hospital this week to treat a urinary tract infection and sepsis, her son Sametto James told the The Press-Enterprise newspaper.
The veteran singer, who lives in Woodcrest, east of Los Angeles, was expected to remain in hospital for “as long as it takes to clear her infections,” he said.
She was hospitalized for similar problems in early 2010, the newspaper reported, adding that there has been a family legal dispute over control of her assets and payment of her medical care.
James, born Jamesetta Hawkins, has won four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2003.
She is also known for her soulful rendition of such songs as “I'd Rather Go Blind” and “All I Could Do Was Cry.”
“At Last” was sung by R&B diva Beyonce when she serenaded Barack and Michelle Obama for their first dance on inauguration night in January 2009, after his election as president.
Written in 1941 by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren, “At Last” first became a hit for Glenn Miller and his orchestra and was covered by Nat King Cole before being adopted by James in 1960.
