Etta James was a mere 17 when she had her first R&B success, in 1955, with “The Wallflower.” Her chart document instantly thereafter was up and down, to say the least, however she did attain a brand new aim on August 21, 1961, when her endurance was rewarded together with her first US chart album. Aptly, it was known as At Final.
James scored one other R&B chart entry in direction of the top of 1955 with “Good Rockin’ Daddy,” however then needed to wait till 1960 for any additional gross sales motion. Then she started a run of each soul and pop entries with such high-quality singles as “All I Could Do Was Cry” and “My Dearest Darling” that culminated within the early 1961 success of certainly one of her most well-known and enduring ballads, the much-covered “At Last.”
That track went to No.2 R&B, produced a High 5 follow-up on that chart with “Trust In Me,” the High 20 “Fool That I Am” after which yet one more High 10 winner in “Don’t Cry, Baby.” Then the album named after that “At Last” smash lastly gave her a toe-hold on the Billboard album chart in that summer time week in 1961, making its first displaying at No.141. The LP was produced by her paymasters at Chess Information, the corporate’s founding brothers Phil and Leonard Chess.
At Final was really launched by Chess even earlier than the title monitor single that went on to be an Etta trademark, however took all of 9 months to make that debut. It climbed to No.69, in a 12-week run, and earlier than the top of the yr, Etta — now aged 23 — had a modest pop chart single that didn’t make the R&B checklist, the double-sided “It’s Too Soon To Know” and “Seven Day Fool.” Finally, she was getting the constant recognition she deserved.
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