As we now know, after seeing Cadillac Records and witnessing further behaviors from the late great Etta James, she lived a lifestyle that would have put many of these reality TV stars of today to shame. She was a great entertainer who experienced a great deal of personal struggles. She’s lived through neglect from her father; homelessness as a child; drug addictions; according to her son, she also had dramatic behavioral problems later in life as the result of a severe urinary tract infection; she served time in Angola prison when she was younger, which is one of the most vicious prisons in America; and she also had bouts of domestic abuse in her relationships with men. She discussed one of those relationships in her book and it also made singer, Jackie Wilson have to step in.

Here’s what Etta James wrote:

“A man called “The Pimp,’ which should have been a clue, was my first serious boyfriend. I found his fast world fascinating. I met him in New York in 1962. He was an ex-heroin junkie. I first saw him hanging out at a after hours joint, acting slick and snorting coke. He was from Boston and loved calling himself a “Roxbury N**ger.” The Pimp was drop-dead handsome. He had that Don Juan look, thin mustache, dark bedroom eyes, and wavy hair. women loved him. He also had a reputation for violence. People said he killed his last girlfriend. They also said, at age 14, he killed a man. Sadly, these stories only excited me.”

“The Pimp satisfied me sexually, before long, sex and violent men were mixed up in my young mind. My friend John Lewis tried to warn me. As an ex-pimp, John knew the type. John told me the Pimp had a reputation for brutally beating women. I ignored John’s warning.”

“One day, the Pimp came to my hotel suite, as soon as he entered, he started sniffing and asked me if I had another man in the room earlier? I told him no! He said, “You lying b**ch, he then punched me in the face and knocked me clear across the room. When I landed on the floor, I was within an arm’s length of my purse with the pistol inside. I went to grab it but the Pimp got to the purse before I did, he found the gun and went berserk, kicking and beating me all over the room.” After this violent episode, things cooled off between us. After a few months, we got back together.”

“One night, John, his girlfriend, and I were visiting singer Jackie Wilson. The Pimp tracked me down and was banging on Jackie’s door. After Jackie opened the door, The Pimp rushed towards me with his fists clenched. Jackie was a former Golden Gloves boxer, he got between us and kicked The Pimp’s ass. Before he left-a bloody and battered mess, he screamed, “Etta, if I ever see you again, I’m going to kill you.” You ain’t nothing but a Jackie Wilson groupie.”

“One day I returned home from shopping, the Pimp was waiting for me, he beat me within a inch of my life and afterwards, he screamed, “B**ch, go wipe the blood off.” When he fell asleep, I got my gun and stood over him, I pressed the trigger, lucky for him, he had taken the bullets out earlier.”

Geesh! Wilson turned into a real life “Rocky” and gave that dude the beatdown of a lifetime! That’s what friends are for though, and Etta was probably very grateful Wilson was there that day.

It’s hard not to wonder what it would have been like if social media existed back then. We would’ve seen these Old School icons in a totally different light, instead of seeing the ‘images’ their record labels and publicists put out to the world at that time. That would have been a great thing in our opinion…just sayin.’

The post Etta James Once Revealed Why Jackie Wilson Gave Her Boyfriend A Brutal Beatdown appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Etta James was known as the woman with the beautiful alto voice and the episodes of controversial moments throughout her life. She was only 5’3″ but she had a persona that was larger than life and she commanded every room she entered.
Her son, Donto James, has revealed that while the world thought Etta’s wild moments — like the time she publicly stated Beyonce [who portrayed Etta in “Cadillac Records’] needed her “a$$ whipped” for singing “At Last” at President Obama’s inauguration ball, instead of her; and Etta’s reputation of canceling shows at the last minute — were all due to drugs or alcohol, her son, Donto James, says that wasn’t the case.

According to Donto said, his late Mom’s prior erratic behavior was simply the result of her rebellious personality…and urinary tract infections. Yep, you just read that right, Donto said urinary tract infections helped to debilitate Etta physically and mentally, causing her to behave strangely at times.

Donto told the Daily Beast that “She (Etta) would do her job but sometimes it was a little rough.” During a performance on a Mexican cruise in 2005, he said, she “forgot her words, and when she got back to her room she was “hallucinating.”

Then there were other times when Etta would cancel her shows only hours before she was scheduled to go on, leaving the concert promoters in a tight bind. According to The Daily Beast, Donto, who was also the drummer in her band, said his mother’s behavior ‘wasn’t a sign of early dementia [nor drugs] as some believed—it was just her personality, and her ability to hold a grudge.

“It was always resentment-based,” [Donto James] said. He said she turned down a gig playing at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremony on the morning of the concert because she felt she wasn’t getting paid enough. “She woke up in the morning and said, ‘I have a headache. I am not doing [the show].’ That was how she was. She did what she wanted to do. She would dwell on things. She didn’t want to be taken advantage of and she would get resentful of certain things and she would act on it.” “We would go up to play first, and we would always wonder if she was going to come out,” he said. “I would say, ‘Why do you do that?’ and she would say, ‘Just to mess with you.’”

That Etta James was something else! Now I’ve gotta admit that I was not not aware that urinary tract infections could make a person do some strange things…we learn something new around here everyday, I tell ya.’ Maybe I should have paid a lil’ bit more attention when my teachers were giving that lesson in our sex ed course. Nevertheless, it’s good to know that not all of the outlandish acts we’ve heard about our beloved Etta James were actually the result of substance abuse. She oftentimes got a bad wrap and because of her admitted history with drug addiction, folks were quick to jump to that conclusion about her.

On a side note, Donto looks so much like his Mom, it’s unreal. It’s like looking at Ettta all over again. Another person he looks like is the man whom Etta always believed was her real life father, the professional pool player, Rudolf Walter Wanderone a.k.a. “Minnesota Fats” (pictured below).

Etta also had a rocky relationship with her mother and never really knew who her father was for certain, but based on the physical resemblances, she could have been right about “Fats.”

The post Etta James Son Tells ‘Real’ Cause Of Mom’s Bad Behavior…And It Wasn’t Drugs appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

“Ike and Tina visited me in my dressing room after a performance. Tina said, ‘Look what Ike bought me.’ She loved showing off her wardrobe. I knew the clothes came from thieving women who were also in love with Ike but I didn’t say anything. Suddenly, Ike said he had some business to do and left. Tina said, ‘Look at this diamond Ike gave me,’ as she pulled the ring from her purse and started putting it on her finger. It was dazzling. When Ike came back, he took one look at the ring on Tina’s hand and without saying a word; he punched her in the face with a closed fist. Then he grabbed her hand and bent it back, and yanked off the ring, almost breaking her finger in the process. Her face swelled up right in front of me. I was shocked and horrified but before I could say a word, Tina was out of there.[Source: “Rage To Survive,” book by Etta James]

This isn’t necessarily surprising, given the violent history of Ike and Tina’s relationship, but it’s still sad to say the least.

It’s evident that Ike had severe issues with women, issues that stem back all the way to his childhood. What he and Tina went through is just another example that it’s almost impossible to know how to genuinely love someone, if we are not healed from the type of conditional love, or lack thereof, that we may have experienced in our childhood. Every human needs unconditional love. However, broken children often mature into broken adults if they don’t get the help they need/deserve in order to heal the wounds and heartaches that were passed onto them without their permission.

Hopefully, Ike Turner and Tina Turner were both eventually able to fully heal from their wounds and toxic relationship. From the looks of it, Tina has…but not quite sure if the late Ike Turner was ever fortunate enough to do so.

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The post Etta James Outed Ike Turner For Heinous Torture She Reportedly Saw Him Do To Tina Turner appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

The post Jackie Wilson Brutally Beat Etta James’ Boyfriend Over THIS! Wow! appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Her son, Donto James, has now revealed that while the world was thinking that Etta’s wild moments, such as when she publicly went after Beyonce by saying she needed her “ass whipped” for singing “At Last” at President Obama’s inauguration ball instead of her, and after she was known to cancel shows at the very last minute, were all due to drugs or alcohol, her son says that wasn’t the case. Donto said his Mom’s erratic behavior was the result of simply her…

The post Etta James Son Tells REAL Cause Of Mom’s Bad Behavior & It Wasn’t Drugs appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

“Ike and Tina visited me in my dressing room after a performance. Tina said, ‘Look what Ike bought me.’ She loved showing off her wardrobe. I knew the clothes came from thieving women who were also in love with Ike but I didn’t say anything. Suddenly, Ike said he had some business to do and left. Tina said, ‘Look at this diamond Ike gave me,’ as she pulled the ring from her purse and started putting it on her finger. It was dazzling. When Ike came back, he took one look at the ring on Tina’s hand and without saying a word; he punched her in the face with a closed fist. Then he grabbed her hand and bent it back, and yanked off the ring, almost breaking her finger in the process. Her face swelled up right in front of me. I was shocked and horrified but before I could say a word, Tina was out of there.

[Source: “Rage To Survive,” by Etta James]
This doesn’t surprise us, given the violent history of Ike and Tina’s relationship, but it’s still sad to say the least. It’s evident that Ike had severe issues with women, issues that stem back all the way to his childhood. What he and Tina went through is just another example that it’s almost impossible to know how to genuinely love someone, if we are not healed from the type of conditional love, or lack thereof, that we may have experienced in our childhood. Broken children often mature into broken adults if they don’t get the help they need and deserve to heal the wounds and heartache that were passed onto them without their permission. I hope Ike Turner and Tina Turner were both eventually able to fully heal from their wounds and toxic relationship. From the looks of it, Tina has…but not quite sure if the late Ike Turner was ever fortunate enough to do so though.

http://youtu.be/hzQnPz6TpGc

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The post Woah…Here’s What Etta James Said She Watched Ike Do To Tina Turner appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Ms. James actually had to serve prison time in one of the most notorious prisons in America, Riker’s Island, for making a bad decision and let’s just say that today’s reality stars ain’t got nothing on some of our Old School icons. See what I mean on the next page.>>>

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