Rita Coolidge

Rita Coolidge (2002)

Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945 in Lafayette , Tennessee ) is an American country and pop musician of Indian descent ( Cherokee ). She experienced her most successful phase in the 1970s when she was married to Kris Kristofferson . The two have twice been awarded a Grammy for best country duo. Coolidge is also known internationally as the singer of the James Bond song All Time High (recorded in 1983 for Octopussy ).

biography

Career start

Rita Coolidge is the third and youngest daughter of a preacher and sang in the church choir as a toddler. The former Florida State University student lived and worked in London for a while . She began her career in the late 1960s as a folk and rock singer with stars such as Joe Cocker , Stephen Stills and Eric Clapton . She accompanied Cocker on his tour Mad Dogs & Englishmen in 1970 , which was recorded on the album of the same name. She was also shown in the cinema recording that was published at the same time and appeared on DVD in 2005.

In 1969 she recorded her first single for the small label Pepper: Turn Around and Love You reached number 96 in the American charts and soon disappeared into oblivion. It wasn't until 2004 that the rare title was re-released on the compilation Delta Lady: The Rita Coolidge Anthology . In 1970 Coolidge signed a record deal with A&M .

In 1971 her first LP Rita Coolidge was released , which mostly contains cover versions. In her subsequent works, too, she mainly resorted to more or less known foreign material. Her debut featured songs by artists such as Van Morrison , Otis Redding and Neil Young . The selection of musicians who agreed to support Coolidge in the studio was also top-class - this was repeated on their later LPs. In addition to Stephen Stills, Bobby Womack and Ry Cooder , Leon Russell should be mentioned, to whom Coolidge owes her nickname "The Delta Lady". Around the same time, she formed her own band, the Dixie Flyers.

Marriage to Kristofferson and mutual successes

Front: Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge at the "Dripping Springs Reunion", 1972

The singer also met and fell in love with her future husband Kris Kristofferson at this time. In 1973 she married the established singer / songwriter. Together they produced three albums with varying degrees of success: Full Moon reached number 1 on the country charts and number 26 on the pop charts. In addition, the record was the only one of the duo to be awarded gold for 500,000 units sold. The released single A Song I'd Like to Sing , which made it to number 49 in the USA, was also successful . In 1973 she worked with Kristofferson in Sam Peckinpah's feature film Pat Garrett Chasing Billy the Kid as Billy's lover Maria.

The following works, Breakaway (1974) and A Natural Act (1978) sold solidly without attracting much attention. Kristofferson and Coolidge were twice awarded a Grammy for “best country duo of the year” : 1973 for From the Bottle to the Bottom and 1975 for Lover Please . However, the marriage of the two suffered from Kristofferson's alcohol problems, especially in recent years, whose success slowly waned. In 1980 the marriage was divorced.

Solo career

Coolidge's solo career took off slowly in the early 1970s. With her "deep, guttural, sexy voice" ( Rolling Stone ) and her "vocal style rooted in blues and soul" (Circus), she sang the second album Nice Feelin ' in 1971 . Her music became quieter and more personal, although she continued to adopt foreign material. The Lady's Not for Sale was Coolidge's first album in 1972 to reach the top 50 of the American charts. Fall into Spring (1974) was equally successful. This LP contained more of the country rock elements with which it tried to hit the relevant charts. Hopes were buried for the time being after the song Mama Lou only reached number 94 on the country charts.

In 1977 she made her breakthrough as a soloist with the platinum album Anytime ... Anywhere . The two singles We're All Alone (USA No. 7, UK No. 6) and (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher (USA No. 2, UK No. 48) sold well internationally and established the artist at least in pop and adult Contemporary , the radio format for “light fare” on American radio. Other successful singles were Words and The Way You Do the Things You Do .

From the following album Love Me Again from 1978, the soft disco number You was first released, which was another top 40 hit for Coolidge. For Love Me Again , Coolidge was able to receive a gold record for 500,000 copies sold for the last time. She continued to release LPs regularly until 1981, although they continued to sell poorly, even if singles like One Fine Day, I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love (1979), Somethin '' bout You Baby I Like (with Glen Campbell ) and Fool That I Am (1980) continued to achieve solid positions in the charts.

In 1983 she sang the theme song All Time High for the James Bond film Octopussy , composed by John Barry . This was the last time she celebrated a worldwide hit that, according to her own statement, she never really liked and enjoyed celebrating in instrumental form at concerts. For the first time, however, Coolidge reached the German charts at number 13. In 1984 she recorded the ballad Love Came for Me for the soundtrack to the world-famous cinema hit Splash , after which Coolidge more or less withdrew from the music business.

comeback

In 1990 she made a modest comeback with the album Fire Me Back . In the following years, Coolidge published CDs again regularly, especially for the Japanese market, where she could always rely on a large fan base. Her old works were temporarily available there as high-quality CD editions. In 1997, Coolidge founded the Trio Walela with her sister Priscilla Coolidge and her daughter Laura Satterfield, which publishes exclusively Native American music and has received four Native American Music Awards (NAMMY). In 2000 she was awarded the NAMMY for her "Lifetime Achievement". As a soloist, Coolidge released And So Is Love , a CD of jazz recordings, in 2005 . In 2006 she received a NAMMY for “Best Jazz Recording”.

Coolidge is now included in the pop and soft rock genre. In the standard work All Music Guide , Coolidge is listed in the rock and not in the country edition.

In 2006 she starred in The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy , a Native American Music Award-winning film that explores the Cherokee Trail of Tears .

In 2016, Coolidge published her autobiography Delta Lady: A Memoir .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	Country
1971	Rita Coolidge	-	US105 (10 weeks) US	-
	Nice feelin '	-	US135 (8 weeks) US	-
1972	The Lady's Not for Sale	-	US46 (24 weeks) US	-
1973	Full moon	-	US26th gold (33 weeks)US	Country1 (22 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
1974	Fall into Spring	-	US55 (15 weeks) US	-
	Break away	-	US103 (12 weeks) US	Country19 (12 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
1975	It's only love	-	US85 (10 weeks) US	-
1977	Anytime ... Anywhere	UK7th gold (28 weeks)UK	US6th platinum (54 weeks)US	Country23 (8 weeks) Country
1978	Natural Act	UK35 (4 weeks) UK	US106 (9 weeks) US	Country24 (12 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
	Love Me Again	UK51 silver (1 week)UK	US32 gold (22 weeks)US	-
1979	Satisfied	-	US95 (16 weeks) US	-
1981	Heartbreak Radio	-	US160 (4 weeks) US	-

More albums

• 1977: Radio Special (promo album)
• 1983: Never Let You Go
• 1984: Inside the Fire
• 1990: Fire Me Back
• 1991: Dancing with an Angel
• 1992: Love Lessons
• 1993: For You
• 1995: Behind the Memories
• 1996: Out Of the Blues
• 1998: Thinkin 'About You
• 2005: And So Is Love
• 2012: A Rita Coolidge Christmas
• 2018: Safe in The Arms of Time

Live albums

• 1980: Live in Japan

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	Country
1980	Greatest hits	-	US107 (8 weeks) US	-
1981	The Very Best Of Rita Coolidge	UK6th gold (11 weeks)UK	-	-

More compilations

• 1979: All About Rita Coolidge (Japan only)
• 1987: Classics Volume 5
• 1991: A&M Gold Series
• 1994: All Time High: Best of Rita Coolidge
• 1995: The Collection (Australia only)
• 1999: Master Series
• 2000: 20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection
• 2001: Universal Masters Collection
• 2004: Delta Lady - The Rita Coolidge Anthology

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Country
1969	Turn Around and Love You	-	-	-	-	US96 (1 week) US	-
1972	Fever The Lady's Not for Sale	-	-	-	-	US76 (7 weeks) US	-
1973	A song I'd Like to Sing Full Moon	-	-	-	-	US49 (10 weeks) US	Country92 (5 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
1974	Loving Arms Full Moon	-	-	-	-	US86 (5 weeks) US	Country98 (2 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
	Mama Lou Fall Into Spring	-	-	-	-	-	Country94 (5 weeks) Country
	Rain breakaway	-	-	-	-	-	Country87 (4 weeks) Country	with Kris Kristofferson
1977	(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher Anytime ... Anywhere	-	-	-	UK48 (2 weeks) UK	US2 gold (27 weeks)US	-
	We're All Alone Anytime ... Anywhere	-	-	-	UK6 (13 weeks) UK	US7th gold (20 weeks)US	Country82 (8 weeks) Country
1978	The Way You Do the Things You Do Anytime ... Anywhere	-	-	-	-	US20 (11 weeks) US	-
	Words Anytime ... Anywhere	-	-	-	UK25 (8 weeks) UK	-	-
	You love me again	-	-	-	-	US25 (12 weeks) US	-
	The Jealous Kind Love Me Again	-	-	-	-	-	Country63 (8 weeks) Country
	Love Me Again Love Me Again	-	-	-	-	US68 (7 weeks) US	Country83 (1 week) Country
1979	One Fine Day Satisfied	-	-	-	-	US66 (7 weeks) US	-
	I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love Satisfied	-	-	-	-	US38 (10 weeks) US	Country32 (10 weeks) Country
1980	Fool That I Am Coast to Coast OST	-	-	-	-	US46 (12 weeks) US	Country72 (4 weeks) Country
1983	All Time High Octopussy OST	DE13 (13 weeks) DE	AT14 (6 weeks) AT	CH7 (9 weeks) CH	UK75 (4 weeks) UK	US36 (13 weeks) US	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1971: I Believe in You
• 1973: My Crew
• 1973: Whiskey, Whiskey
• 1975: Lover Please (with Kris Kristofferson)
• 1978: Slow Dancer
• 1979: Hello, Love, Goodbye
• 1981: Let's Go Dancing (with Booker T. Jones )
• 1981: The Closer You Get
• 1983: Lake Freeze
• 1983: Only You
• 1984: Something Said Love
• 1990: I Stand in Wonder

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1980	Somethin 'Bout You Baby I Like Somethin' Bout You Baby I Like	US42 (10 weeks) US	Country60 (6 weeks) Country	with Glen Campbell

literature

• Irwin Stambler: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 143 f. ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .

Web links

• Rita Coolidge in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• www.ritacoolidge.net
• Biography and Discography Billboard Online ( Memento from February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry on the Grammy website
2. ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Delta-Lady-Memoir-Rita-Coolidge/dp/0062372041
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Music Sales Awards: UK US