From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Dec 23, 2002  6:14 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Little Esther

LITTLE ESTHER (aka Esther Phillips) (By Phil Davies)

Born Esther Mae Jones, 23 December 1935, Galveston, Texas

Died 7 August 1984, Carson, California

Born in Texas, Esther learned to sing in the church. After WW2 her family
migrated to Los Angeles. Her favourite singer was Dinah Washington. Aged 14 she
won an amateur contest at a club owned by Johnny Otis. He signed her up to sing
with his band. A few months later she recorded Double Crossing Blues on Savoy as
Little Esther & the Robins with the Johnny Otis Congregation. She became the
youngest female to have an r&b number 1.

Follow up hits included other number 1 hits with Mistrustin' Blues (with Mel
Walker) and Cupid Boogie. Several other songs also reached the top 20 in 1950,
Misery, Deceivin' Blues, Wedding Boogie and Faraway Blues, an impressive debut
year for Esther. A dispute about royalties simmered for a while.

She left Otis and Savoy, signing for Federal, but the magic formula had been
broken, despite recording over 30 sides, only one, Ring-A-Ding-Doo, charted in
52. Leaving Otis was part of the problem, the other major factor was drugs, a
serious heroin habit ended her 50s career prematurely.

To her credit, by 62, Esther was able to attempt a comeback, discovered by Kenny
Rogers, she was now billed as Esther Phillips on Lenox (label owned by Kenny's
brother Lelan, the country classic Release Me went to number one r&b and number
8 pop (later covered by UK warbler Gerry Dorsey in his Englebert mode). She had
smaller hits on Atlantic during the 60s (When A Man Loves A Woman & And I Love
Him, covers of Percy Sledge and the Beatles) but the temptations of show biz
struck again, Esther returned to her addictive ways, this time drink and drugs
were a double strike problem.

Kicking the habit again in the early 70s she got her career together again, with
the powerful Home Is Where The Hatred Is (written by Gil Scott Heron) and a
great version of What A Difference A Day Makes which reached the top 20 pop in
75.

Her final minor chart hit was Turn Me Out in 83. A year later she died of a
liver ailment, a sad end to a bittersweet career that promised so much in 1950.
Her old mentor, now the Rev Johnny Otis, conducted Esther's funeral service.

Recommended listening:

Little Esther - Complete Savoy Recordings

Bad, Baad Girl, Charly (Federal sides)

Best Of Esther 62-70, Rhino

Johnny Otis Live At Monterey 71

And Collectables have a series of 2fers featuring her 60s albums , inc a great
version of Charlie Rich's No Headstone On My Grave