[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzibSiJv8hc[/youtube]

The R&B/blues singer Etta James died this morning at the age of 73 due to complications arising from leukemia. She was the greatest of Chess Records’ female singers, and had been inducted into the Rock & Roll, Blues, and Grammy halls of fame. Peter Keepnews reviews her career in his obituary for James at The New York Times, where he writes, “Expressing a common sentiment, Jon Pareles … wrote in 1990 that she had ‘one of the great voices in American popular music, with a huge range, a multiplicity of tones and vast reserves of volume.’” In a review of her recordings for Modern Records OffBeat‘s Jeff Hannusch wrote, “When she did get her thing together, despite her youthfulness, James could really worry a song.”

Here’s footage of Etta James singing her top-5 R&B hit “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” on the TV show The!!!! Beat in 1966.