Rita Coolidge - Rita Coolidge (1971)

Rita Coolidge is an American singer.
 

Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tenessee. Her first big break in the music industry was joining Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. After that she moved to L.A., and went on to peform on albums by Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker. She toured as part of Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs And Englishmen Revue, and featured on the resultant live album singing lead on the Leon Russell / Bonnie Bramlett composition "Superstar". In 1970 she met country singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson - the two would marry three years later.
Her debut solo album came out in 1971, featuring a strong mix of country, folk-rock, blues, soul and pop. It proved her to be an excellent interpreter of other peoples' songs, with covers of the Albert King classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", Otis Redding's "The Happy Song", Neil Young's "I Believe In You", Van Morrison's "Crazy Love", Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road", and others. The instrumental backing came from an all-star cast - Leon Russell, Clarence White, Marc Benno, Chris Ethridge, Bobby Womack, Duck Dunn, Bobbye Hall Porter, Jim Keltner, Booker T. Jones, Spooner Oldham, Stephen Stills, Jerry McGee, Plas Johnson, Clifford Scott, Ry Cooder and Fuzzy Samuels... plus some fantastic orchestral arrangements.
With its brilliant arrangements, playing, song selection, and of course Coolidge's voice, the album got an excellent critical reception, but it wasn't much of a commercial success. She would have to wait many years for success on the charts.

|> Nice Feelin' (1971)
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