埃塔詹姆斯: “她没有任何粉饰,“儿子说：

蓝调和R的两个儿子&b极埃塔詹姆斯上周五描述了他们的母亲一个温暖的, 爱的女人谁从来没有糖衣恶劣, 生活有时是痛苦的现实 - - 尤其是她自己.

周五上午Donto和Sametto詹姆斯是由他们的母亲身边时，她病逝于阳明山庄社区医院滨江. 詹姆斯, 73, 已经病重的最后一年， 死于并发症 从她的长期争斗与白血病, 根据她的私人医生.

“我们觉得这是一个祝福我和我的兄弟在那里帮助这里虽然这, 有机会告诉她，我们如何看待她; 抱着她，看她,” 说她的大儿子, Donto詹姆斯, 42, 莫雷诺谷.

照片: 埃塔詹姆斯 | 1938-2012

最出名的是她的布鲁斯即兴演奏和排放黑烟夜总会民谣 — 包括 “终于” 和 “告诉妈妈” — James overcame drug addiction and weight problems and was on tour just three years ago, with Donto on drums and Sametto playing bass guitar.

“She was real, 这是肯定的. She didn’t hold anything back from us. She always told us the truth and how things really were,” Donto James said. “She didn’t sugarcoat anything, and we loved her for that.”

Growing up, Donto said he never realized how popular his mother still was until they went on tour in 2009. He was expected to see clubs filled with gray –haired fans, but most were young — teenagers even, 他说：.

“My mother did things her own way, and I think a lot of people picked up on that,” Sametto James, 35, 说：. “I know everybody says this, but she was one of the best moms a person could have. Really down to earth. You could tell her anything.”

Their mother’s health deteriorated rapidly over the last year, during which Etta James underwent chemotherapy for her leukemia and suffered from a form of dementia. She was in and out of the hospital. Even in the hardest times, 然而, she never lost her headstrong spirit, her sons said.

Donto James and his stepfather, Artis Mills, had been embroiled in a legal dispute over her care and control of her $1-million estate. Under a recent agreement with Donto James and his brother, Mills remained as conservator of her estate. But a Riverside County Superior Court judge last month released only $350,000 for her medical costs, less than the $500,000 that Mills had requested.

Etta James had both of her sons during a previous marriage.

Etta James moved to Riverside from Los Angeles in the 1980s, living in a simple, ranch-style home perched on a rugged canyon slope with views of snow-capped mountains. The front yard is shaded by palms and towering succulents, and the only hint of fame is an aging Rolls-Royce still in the driveway.

Donto James said the period he remembers most fondly from his mother’s long career were the hard times in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was largely forgotten and scratching by playing small clubs. Only the most loyal fans, including her large following in the gay community, helped get her through that stretch, 他说：.

“A lot of people didn’t know she was still around,” Donto James said.

接着, breaks started coming her way. At the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, James belted out “When the Saints Go Marching In” to a worldwide audience.

She joined other blues greats in a performance at the 25th annual Grammy Awards in 1983. Donto, a teenager at the time, remembers sitting in audience. Next to him were members of the rap group Run DMC, and they went wild when Etta James took the stage.

“That’s went I realized my mother was truly a star,” 他说：.

来源: 的. 时报