Born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, her mother was only 14 years old, and she never knew her father.
BBC: Etta James: Soul legend dies in California
2.
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles in 1938, it was her first manager and promoter, Johnny Otis, who gave her the name Etta James, cutting up Jamesetta and reversing it.
NPR: "Matriarch of the Blues" Etta James dies at 71