Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945, in Lafayette, Tennessee) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer. She is of Cherokee Native American and Scottish descent.[1][2]
Early career
Rita Coolidge's early career was as a backing vocalist, for artists such as Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, and Leon Russell. Her performance of "Superstar" on the Cocker/Russell Mad Dogs and Englishmen album helped gain her attention.
The Delta Lady
She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Leon Russell to write a song of the same name for her. It was during this time that she met Kris Kristofferson, the two married in 1973. With him, she recorded several duet albums which sold well, and earned them 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.
Solo career
She had several solo hit singles during the late 1970s with cover versions. Her first hit, "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher," a cover of the Jackie Wilson song, was also her highest seller, reaching number two on the U.S. charts in 1977. She followed that with Boz Scaggs's "We're All Alone" which reached number seven later that same year.
Other hits were "One Fine Day" (written by Carole King and a hit for the 1960s girl group the Chiffons, "Words" (The Bee Gees), "I Don't Want to Talk About It" (written by Danny Whitten), "The Way You Do the Things You Do" (The Temptations), and "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" (Carole Bayer Sager). In 1980 Coolidge also was the voice of Melissa Raccoon in the Christmas Raccoons, and reprised this role for a subsequent special The Raccoons on Ice in 1981. Both of these specials served as a predecessor to the critically-acclaimed Canadian animated series, The Raccoons.
She scored her last hit in 1983, with "All Time High" for the James Bond film Octopussy. Another movie song, although not a hit, was the love theme from the movie Splash, entitled "Love Came For Me".
In 2004, Coolidge released an anthology of her complete career, entitled Delta Lady — The Rita Coolidge Anthology.
In 2006, Coolidge released a jazz CD, And So Is Love. That same year, she toured the United Kingdom on the "Once in a Lifetime Country Tour" with Don Williams and Kenny Rogers.
Walela
In 1997, Coolidge was one of the founding members of Walela, a Native American music trio, that also includes Coolidge's sister 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 complilation album (The Best of Walela) in 2007. Walela means hummingbird in Cherokee.
Personal life
Coolidge married Kris Kristofferson in 1973 and they have one daughter, Casey. Her marriage to Kristofferson ended in 1980.
Before her marriage to Kristofferson, Coolidge had romantic liaisons with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash; her leaving Stills for Nash has been cited as a contributing factor behind Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's initial breakup in 1970.[3] David Crosby memorialized this situation in his song "Cowboy Movie" (from the album If I Could Only Remember My Name, 1971); Coolidge is the "sweet little Indian girl" of the song. Stills has referenced his relationship with Coolidge in his work as well; he refers to her by the nickname "the Raven" in his song "Sit Yourself Down" (Stephen Stills, 1970) and similarly named one side of his first album with Manassas (Manassas, 1972) in her honor.
She graduated from Andrew Jackson Senior High located in Jacksonville, Florida in 1963.
She now lives in a small town located in southern California.
She is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.[4]
Discography
Singles
Albums
References
External links
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Compilations
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