![]() ![]() Anywhere,” that she finally hit stardom with the biggest selling album of her career. It marked the first of three duet albums by the couple, including another Grammy winner.Īs a solo artist, it wasn’t until her 1977 album, “Anytime. Their first duo album, “Full Moon,” recorded just before they got married, topped the country charts, sold gold and won a Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. “Stephen Stills said to me one time the importance of that record was that he and Booker, the great geniuses of our time, had met and it had nothing to do with me.”Īs a popular backing singer in the early 1970s, Coolidge performed on classics such as Clapton’s “After Midnight” and Still’s “Love the One You’re With,” and on albums by Graham Nash, Dave Mason and Boz Scaggs.Īnd then came a switch to country teaming with Kristofferson. “It sold well and consistently and made A&M happy,” she says. Plus it featured a 19-piece horn section and a 10-piece string ensemble on many tracks.Īmong the highlights are a terrific swampy version of Albert King’s blues classic “Born Under a Bad Sign,” and Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love.” Jones, Stephen Stills, Ry Cooder, Byrds’ guitarist Clarence White, and John Lennon/George Harrison drummer Jim Keltner. When it came time to record her self-titled debut album for A&M Records, Coolidge assembled an extraordinarily talented ensemble including keyboardists Russell and Booker T. The song kind of became my handle and it’s the title of my book (released in 2016) and the title of my CD set. “I was living at Leon’s house then and was about to make a break for it, and I think that (‘Delta Lady’) was an effort to try and hold on to me,” she reveals. One of Cocker’s early hits, “Delta Lady” had been composed by Leon Russell for Coolidge. Whether in the studio or on the road Joe was the most humble, sweetest guy in the world.” (Maui’s Pamela Polland was also a backing singer on the tour) We were making history. The Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour was like nothing that had ever been done before. Coolidge would perform a song she’d co-written, “Superstar,” which would later be a huge hit for The Carpenters. and was soon hired by Joe Cocker as a featured soloist on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. When the pair signed a record deal, Coolidge headed to L.A. We were little bitty kids when we started singing in public.”Īfter earning an art degree at Florida State University, she moved to Memphis where she met husband and wife duo, Delaney and Bonnie. There were all kinds of music going on, plus I sang with my two sisters in a trio and began doing talent shows when I was probably three years old. My sister studied opera when she was 12 years old. “My mother played the organ in church and mother and daddy both sang and wrote songs together. “I came from a very musical family,” she says. Growing up in rural Tennessee, her father was a full-blooded Cherokee and her mother was half Cherokee and half Scottish. People would go, ‘Oh my God, you’re recording! I want to be on your record.’ We recorded it at the same studio, Sunset Sound, where we did the first 10 albums.” It happened very much like my first record. I wrote a couple of songs with Keb Mo and was able to bring a lot of people into the fold that I’ve been wanting to work with. “With this record I wanted to kind of capture some of the organic feel and Southern roots that my first albums had. “I just finished an album and I probably had the best experience of my life in the studio,” says Coolidge. Reviewing her career-spanning book, “Delta Lady: The Rita Coolidge Anthology,” AllMusic proclaimed: “No other singer - not Maria Muldaur, Bette Midler, Bonnie Bramlett, Carly Simon, or Linda Ronstadt - more perfectly embodied the wide range of changes that popular music underwent from the late ’60s through the mid-’80s, and continues to seek new means of expression today.”Ĭoolidge is excited about her new album of original material which will be released in March. The legendary “Delta Lady” of the song and a two-time Grammy award winner, Coolidge is best known for hits like “Fever,” “We’re All Alone,” “One Fine Day,” “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher,” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do.” Featured on the legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour with Joe Cocker, over the years she toured and recorded with many greats including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Duane Allman and Kristofferson. ![]()
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