Etta James wasn't just a blues legend; she was an icon. With a voice she could mold to belt out delicate ballads like "At Last" and husky, heart-shredding blues hits like "I'd Rather Go Blind," James, who died Jan. 20 at 73, won Grammys for her blues and jazz recordings and was inducted into both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. "Etta is earthy and gritty," blues singer Bonnie Raitt wrote in Rolling Stone in 2005, "ribald and out-there in a way that few performers have the guts to be." Over her nearly six-decade career, James helped construct...
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