Rita Coolidge - Delta Lady

 

After finally finishing the fine Leon Russell tome I got curious about Rita, who, of course, was part of the Leon and Joe Cocker entourage - and the inspiration for “Delta Lady” (hence this book's title, natch) - and found this book. I never knew that much about her, other than that she was another stunningly pretty hippie chick with a fine voice. 

She opens with her recovering from a broken romance with Kris Kristopherson before reminiscing about her life. Growing up in the South with a loving, supportive family, she always sang but after a head-on car accident as a young teen, she temporarily lost some of her momentum. Of course, she healed up and moved on, becoming part of the early NYC folk scene for a short while (a mugging scared her into leaving town) and moved to Memphis, where her parents were then living.

She managed to become a singer with a jingle factory that started her musical career. She also started dating Al Green’s guitarist and so became deeply involved in the Stax scene and her sister even married Booker T! She met Delaney and Bonnie with Leon Russell while they were recording in town and moved with them to LA on a comparative whim. So, obviously, there are a lot of stories in common with the Leon Russell book, to the point where entire paragraphs are literal word-for-word quotes in both books, particularly the tales with Leon, Delaney and Bonnie and Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

But, of course, there are many revelations, as well, especially since I don’t know all that much about her career. I didn’t know that she had a serious relationship with Graham Nash between Leon and Kris (among others) and certainly didn’t know that she co-wrote the hit “Superstar” and part of the piano coda that ends “Layla”! (Which she is still waiting for Clapton to acknowledge.)

Although she describes Kristopherson as the love of her life, she makes it sound like it was a pretty unhealthy relationship, which is a sad juxtaposition. I know that it happens all the time, but what a shame that this strong woman spent years wallowing in abuse. It’s actually a relief when she finally leaves, with the help of a mega-hit album, something that most people don’t have to fall back on, to say the least!

Her career as a solo artist and a session singer took off pretty much as soon as she hit LA, and so she always had her own life while dating some huge stars. As I said, her solo album took off with huge hits just as she decided to leave Kris and although she never managed to reach this heights again, that was enough to sustain her throughout the rest of her life.

Apart from an epilogue, she essentially ends the story as she’s riding high, although even the epilogue has some tragedies. In any case, while she’s not an artist that I would listen to regularly, she has quite a tale to tell and tells it well. Worth checking out for anyone who digs the crazy r’n’r/folk/singer-songwriter scenes for the 60’s/70’s.

PS - I do have to say that it is kind of depressing to read about how fucked up (mentally, emotionally, physically - not necessarily drug-induced) so many musicians that we all looked up to really were. Of course, they’re people too, but it turns out that they were profoundly screwed up people - even more so that we thought we were as screwed up teenagers. Sad to learn about your heroes…