ESTHER PHILLIPS

ESTHER PHILLIPS

Esther Phillips fue tal vez demasiado versátil para el bien de su propia carrera musical. En efecto, era capaz de interpretar sin inmutarse cualquier género, desde blues, rnb, soul, jazz hasta pop o incluso disco. Sin embargo, la industria discográfica carecía de una clara idea, de un plan de cómo sacar el mayor partido a tanto talento. Paradójicamente se vió condenada por ello, demasiado fina y elegante para el soul de los sesenta deambulaba entre distintos estilos sin encajar en ninguno, incorporaba elementos de todos pero sin llegar a situarse definitivamente en ningún género en particular.
 
Su voz tenía una cualidad nasal peculiar, vanguardista para aquella época aunque no del gusto de todos, a menudo se la comparaba con Nina Simone, aunque ella misma citaba a Dinah Washington o Dionne Warwick como su principal inspiración. Su carrera artística comenzó siendo ella era muy joven (por ello se ganó el apodo de Little Esther) y, según cuentan, ya estaba luchando contra la adicción a las drogas durante su adolescencia. Sus devastadores efectos sobre su salud le costó su vida sin cumplir los 50 años. Sin duda esta maravillosa intérprete cae en el ámbito de esas grandes cantantes que nunca recibieron el reconocimiento de su calidad y de su hermosa contribución a la historia de la música contemporánea. Sin embargo, aquí estamos para recordarla y poder apreciar todo su buen hacer  cuando se subía a un escenario.

Born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas. When she was an adolescent, her parents divorced, and she was forced to divide her time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Because she was brought up singing in church, she was hesitant to enter a talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted and she complied. A mature singer at the age of 14, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club owned by Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as "Little Esther Phillips" (she reportedly took the surname from a gas station sign). 

Her first hit record was "Double Crossing Blues", recorded in 1950 for Savoy Records. After several hit records with Savoy, including her duet with Mel Walker on "Mistrusting Blues", which went to number one that year, as did "Cupid Boogie". Other Phillips records that made it onto the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1950 include "Misery" (number 9), "Deceivin' Blues" (number 4), "Wedding Boogie" (number 6), and "Faraway Blues" (number 6). Few female artists, R&B or otherwise, had ever enjoyed such success in their debut year.[2] Phillips left Otis and the Savoy label at the end of 1950 and signed with Federal Records. 

But just as quickly as the hits had started, they stopped. Although she recorded more than thirty sides for Federal, only one, "Ring-a-Ding-Doo", charted; the song made it to number 8 in 1952. Not working with Otis was part of her problem; the other part was her drug usage. By the middle of the decade Phillips was chronically addicted to drugs.[4] Being in the same room when Johnny Ace shot himself on Christmas Day, 1954, while in-between shows in Houston, did not help matters.

Little Esther (Phillips) - Bad Baad Girl (1985)

Pulsa / Press PLAY