Etta James was born on January 25, 1938 in Los Angeles. Her childhood was marked by the absence of her father, as she never managed to know who he was. Her beginnings in music were focused on the gospel genre, thanks to the church she frequently visited. At only 5 years old, she had already managed to appear in several radio programs of that time.

As a teenager, he made the decision to move to the city of San Francisco. Once there, she formed a band with two of her closest friends and began working for Johnny Otis, who, at that time, was at the height of his career as a bandleader.

By 1954, her mother ordered her to return to Los Angeles. There, he was presented with the opportunity to record one of his greatest hits "Roll With Me Henry". Subsequently, due to several negative comments given the references to the original name, the name of this hit was changed to "The Wallflower".

At that point, the musical group of which Etta was part, was renamed "The Peaches", being this also a nickname that the singer had before being recognized as Etta James. In addition, it should be noted that they belonged to the Modern Records label, with which the singer continued to work even after the dissolution of the band.

In 1960, she decided to work with Chicago's Chess Records, singing for the subsidiary Argo. Very quickly her career was propelled to the top. At that time, she not only did some duets with her then boyfriend (Harvey Fuqua, the lead singer of the Moonglows), but also individually recorded songs such as "All I Could Do Was Cry", reaching the top of the R&B charts.

On December 23, 2011, she was admitted to Riverside Community Hospital in California with terminal leukemia. On January 20, 2012, at the age of 73, the six-time Grammy Award-winning singer passed away.