Born: May 1, 1945
Age: 79
Rita Coolidge
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Biography
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist and songwriter. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's pop, country, adult contemporary and jazz charts and won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and former husband Kris Kristofferson.
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Early life
Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee. Coolidge attended Nashville's Maplewood High School. She graduated from Andrew Jackson Senior High in Jacksonville, Florida. She is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. She is of Scottish and self-identified Cherokee ancestry.
Career
Coolidge is a graduate of Florida State University. After singing around Memphis (including a stint singing jingles), she was discovered by Delaney & Bonnie, who took her to Los Angeles where, besides her work with Delaney & Bonnie, she became a popular background singer on many other people's albums. She sang for Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills. She was featured in Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and album, singing Russell's and Bonnie Bramlett's song "Superstar." She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Russell to write a song of the same name for her.
In November 1970, she met Kris Kristofferson at the Los Angeles airport when they were both catching the same flight to Tennessee. He got off in Memphis with her, rather than continue to his intended destination in Nashville. The two married in 1973 and recorded several duet albums, which sold well and earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1974 for From the Bottle to the Bottom, and in 1976 for Lover Please.
Coolidge's greatest success on the pop charts came during 1977-1978 with four consecutive top 25 hits, covers of Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher", Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone", The Temptations' "The Way You Do The Things You Do", and Marcia Hines' "You".
Coolidge also was among the first hosts on VH1. In 2006, Coolidge recorded a standards album, And So Is Love.
Layla
In the recording of the original Classic Rock hit "Layla" by Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominoes in 1970, Clapton returned to the studio where he heard the band's drummer Jim Gordon playing a piano piece he had allegedly composed himself separately. Clapton, impressed by the piece, convinced Gordon to allow it to be used as part of the song in the coda section. Though only Gordon has been officially credited with this part, the band's keyboardist Bobby Whitlock claims, "Jim took that piano melody from his ex-girlfriend Rita Coolidge. I know because in the Delaney & Bonnie days, I lived in John Garfield's old house in the Hollywood Hills and there was a guest house with an upright piano in it. Rita and Jim were up there in the guest house and invited me to join in on writing this song with them called "Time." Her sister Priscilla wound up recording it with her husband, Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. & the M.G.'s). Jim took the melody from Rita's song and didn't give her credit for writing it. Her boyfriend ripped her off." "Time" ended up on the 1973 album "Chronicles" by Booker T. and Priscilla. Jim Gordon was later convicted of killing his mother in 1983 after becoming schizophrenic and is still incarcerated as of 2015.
Personal life
Coolidge is the daughter of "Dick" and Charlotte Coolidge, a minister and schoolteacher, with sisters Linda and Priscilla, and brother Raymond. Coolidge was married to Kris Kristofferson from 1973 to 1980. They have one daughter, Casey. Coolidge previously had romantic liaisons with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash; her leaving Stills for Nash has been cited as a contributing factor behind the initial 1970 breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. She was also involved with Leon Russell and Joe Cocker during their Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. Coolidge married Tatsuya Suda on June 19 2004 in the Cook Islands: Suda is a Japanese citizen who retired in 2010 after a tenure of over twenty-five years as a professor at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (UC Irvine).
Rita's sister Priscilla Coolidge was also a singer & recording artist. Priscilla married Booker T. Jones of the popular '60s R&B band Booker T & The MG's in 1969, then married TV journalist/broadcaster/reporter Ed Bradley in 1981, then married Michael Seibert. Seibert & Priscilla were found dead in their home in October 2014 from what police called a murder-suicide allegedly perpetrated by Michael Seibert.
Coolidge now lives in Fallbrook, California. She is currently a painter and has exhibited her work. Coolidge is also a sister of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.
It was announced in September 2014 that Coolidge had contracted with HarperCollins to write her autobiography for publication in 2015: being co-written with Michael Walker, this memoir has the working title Delta Lady.
Walela
In 1997, Coolidge was one of the founding members of Walela, a Native American music trio, that also included Priscilla and Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield. The trio released studio albums in 1997 (Walela) and 2000 (Unbearable Love), a live album and DVD (Live in Concert) in 2004 and a compilation album (The Best of Walela) in 2007. Walela means hummingbird in Cherokee. Coolidge considered this group important, not only in honoring her Cherokee ancestors but also in bringing their culture to others. Also as part of her Native American heritage, she performed with Robbie Robertson, who is Mohawk, at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Discography
Albums (North American)
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Rita Coolidge | 105 | — | 71 | A&M |
| Nice Feelin' | 135 | — | — | ||
| 1972 | The Lady's Not for Sale | 46 | — | 27 | |
| 1974 | Fall into Spring | 55 | — | 41 | |
| 1975 | It's Only Love | 85 | — | — | |
| 1977 | Anytime...Anywhere | 6 | 23 | 4 | |
| 1978 | Love Me Again | 32 | — | 39 | |
| 1979 | Satisfied | 95 | — | 58 | |
| 1980 | Greatest Hits | 107 | — | 47 | |
| 1981 | Heartbreak Radio | 160 | — | — | |
| 1983 | Never Let You Go | — | — | — | |
| 1984 | Inside the Fire | — | — | — | |
| 1992 | Love Lessons | — | — | — | Caliber/Critique |
| 1996 | Out of the Blues | — | — | — | Beacon |
| 1998 | Thinkin' About You | — | — | — | Innerworks |
| 2005 | And So Is Love | — | — | — | Concord |
| 2012 | A Rita Coolidge Christmas | — | — | — | 429 Records |
Albums with Kris Kristofferson
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Full Moon | 1 | 26 | 7 | A&M |
| 1974 | Breakaway | 19 | 103 | 81 | Monument |
| 1978 | Natural Act | 24 | 106 | — | A&M |
International albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Fire Me Back | Attic |
| 1991 | Dancing with an Angel | |
| 1993 | For You | Alpha |
| 1995 | Behind the Memories | Pony Canyon |
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | All About Rita Coolidge (Japanese release) | A&M |
| 1980 | Greatest Hits | |
| 1987 | Classics Volume 5 | |
| 1991 | A&M Gold Series (West German release) | |
| 1994 | All Time High: Best of Rita Coolidge | |
| 1995 | The Collection (Australian release) | Spectrum |
| 1999 | Master Series | A&M |
| 2000 | 20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection | |
| 2001 | Universal Masters Collection | |
| 2004 | Delta Lady - The Rita Coolidge Anthology |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | "Turn Around and Love You" | 96 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | single only |
| 1971 | "I Believe in You" | — | — | — | 38 | 16 | — | — | — | Rita Coolidge |
| 1972 | "Fever" | 76 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Lady's Not for Sale |
| 1973 | "My Crew"A | flip | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Whiskey, Whiskey" | 106 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "A Song I'd Like to Sing" | 49 | 12 | 92 | 53 | 3 | 54 | — | 97 | Full Moon | |
| 1974 | "Loving Arms" | 86 | 25 | 98 | 83 | 9 | — | — | 96 | |
| "Mama Lou" | — | — | 94 | — | — | — | — | — | Fall Into Spring | |
| "Rain" | — | 44 | 87 | — | 40 | — | — | — | Breakaway | |
| 1975 | "Lover Please" | — | 42 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1977 | "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" | 2 | 5 | — | 1 | 3 | — | 48 | 6B | Anytime...Anywhere |
| "We're All Alone" | 7 | 1 | 82 | 5 | 1 | — | 6 | 32 | ||
| 1978 | "The Way You Do the Things You Do" | 20 | 9 | — | 16 | 6 | — | — | 74 | |
| "Words" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | — | ||
| "You" | 25 | 3 | — | 17 | 1 | — | — | — | Love Me Again | |
| "The Jealous Kind" | — | — | 63 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Love Me Again" | 68 | 20 | 83 | 73 | 35 | — | — | — | ||
| "Slow Dancer" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | ||
| 1979 | "Hello, Love, Goodbye" | — | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | |
| "One Fine Day" | 66 | 15 | — | 89 | 4 | — | — | 68 | Satisfied | |
| "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" | 38 | 3 | 32 | 87 | 1 | 24 | — | — | ||
| 1980 | "Somethin' Bout You Baby I Like" |
42 | 39 | 60 | — | 36 | 23 | — | — | Somethin' Bout You Baby I Like |
| "Fool That I Am" | 46 | 15 | 72 | — | — | 52 | — | — | Coast to Coast soundtrack | |
| "We Could Stay Together" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | The Best of You | |
| 1981 | "Let's Go Dancing" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | Satisfied |
| "The Closer You Get" | 103 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | Heartbreak Radio | |
| 1983 | "Lake Freeze" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Lake Freeze - The Raccoons Songtrack |
| "All Time High" | 36 | 1 | — | 38 | 1 | — | 75 | 80 | Octopussy soundtrack | |
| "Only You" | — | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Never Let You Go | |
| 1984 | "Something Said Love" | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Inside the Fire |
| 1990 | "I Stand in Wonder" | — | — | — | 49 | 21 | — | — | — | Fire Me Back |
- A B-side of "Fever"
- B Charted as a double A-side in Australia, backed with "I Don't Want to Talk About It"
[ Source: Wikipedia ]
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