Fatman's Daughter Dies

[Cowboy Dennis]

Etta James,the one person whose mother claimed that Minnesota Fats was the father of died at the age of 73.

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938. Her mother, Dorothy Hawkins, was 14 at the time; her father was long gone, and Ms. James never knew for sure who he was, although she recalled her mother telling her that he was the celebrated pool player Rudolf Wanderone, better known as Minnesota Fats. She was reared by foster parents and moved to San Francisco with her mother when she was 12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/arts/music/etta-james-singer-dies-at-73.html?hp

 

[Cowboy Dennis]

Etta tells the story of meeting Fatty in Nashville. In some other interviews he told Etta that he just couldn't remember many things in his life and he didn't know if he was her father.

Dorothy Hawkins died this past May. But she outlived the man rumored to be James' father -- the enigmatic pool shark, Minnesota Fats. James met him once, in 1987, when she tracked him to the Heritage Hotel in Nashville and rang his room.

"He says, 'I'll be in the lobby,' " she says, pronouncing lobby as 'laahhhhby.' "He talked like that. 'I'll be in the lobby with one of my dames.' He had a vibe like me. As far as me knowing that's my father? I don't know. But he seemed like he was.

"When he passed, he sent me a beautiful golden watch that hung on his clothes that had his name on it. And he sent me a letter, and told me that he wanted me to write a song about him and stuff, which I never did. But I often thought about that."

James looks down wistfully at her hands. Despite a perfect French manicure, they're large, masculine hands -- just like those of Minnesota Fats. Then her head snaps back up. "Oh! And he gave us a picture - and the picture looked just like Donto, my oldest son. It was just like Donto."

 

[Jimmy B]

Etta James,the one person whose mother claimed that Minnesota Fats was the father of died at the age of 73.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/arts/music/etta-james-singer-dies-at-73.html?hp

Musics original bad girl. I still love 'At Last' even after I realized it was Chief Admiral Shitinthefaces' (obama) favorite song and he wanted it at the inauguration. I've been on you tube listening to it over and over by James, Beyonce, Cyndi Lauper, Christina A and check out Celine Dions rendetion. Its fabulous. This you tube is the absolute nuts with good speakers. I use to dream about something like this when I was young.....................

 

[Frank Almanza]

I met her son Donto several years ago and he did have Fat's looks. It seems like Fat's never confirmed or denied about him being Etta's father. My wife selected "At Last" for a song in our wedding but my favorite is "my Dearest Darling".