Rita Coolidge | |
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 Coolidge performing at an outdoor concert inSeattle in September 2002 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1945-05-01)May 1, 1945 (age 80) Lafayette, Tennessee, U.S. |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1969–present |
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Spouse(s) | |
| Website | www |
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were onBillboard magazine'spop,country,adult contemporary, andjazz charts,[1] and she won twoGrammy Awards with fellow musician and then-husbandKris Kristofferson.[2] Her recordings include "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher", "We're All Alone", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" and the theme song for the 1983James Bond filmOctopussy: "All Time High".
Coolidge was born inLafayette, Tennessee.[3] She is the daughter of Dick and Charlotte Coolidge, a minister and schoolteacher, with sisters Linda andPriscilla, and brother Raymond.[4] Coolidge's father was Cherokee, and her mother was half Cherokee and half Scottish.[5] However, the Coolidge family was never enrolled in any Native American tribe.[6] She attended Nashville'sMaplewood High School and was graduated fromAndrew Jackson Senior High School inJacksonville, Florida. Coolidge is a graduate ofFlorida State University, and a member ofAlpha Gamma Delta sorority.[7]
After singing aroundMemphis (including a stint singingjingles), Coolidge was discovered byDelaney & Bonnie, who worked with her in Los Angeles.[7] There, she became a backing singer[8] for artists includingLeon Russell,Joe Cocker,Harry Chapin,Bob Dylan,Jimi Hendrix,Eric Clapton,Dave Mason,Graham Nash, andStephen Stills.[9] She was featured in Joe Cocker'sMad Dogs and Englishmen tour and album, singing Russell's andBonnie Bramlett's song "Superstar". Coolidge did not receive songwriting credits for "Superstar" which later became a hit forThe Carpenters.[10]
She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Russell to write asong of the same name for her.[11]
Coolidge also did not receive songwriting credits for thecoda of the 1971 single "Layla" byEric Clapton's bandDerek and the Dominos.[12] In 2016, Coolidge stated that she recorded a demo with her boyfriend, the band's drummerJim Gordon, before they went to England to record with Clapton. Once they met with Clapton, Coolidge played the piece she composed for him and she gave him a cassette.[10] Clapton, impressed by the piece, used it as part of the song in the ending section which she found out by hearing the song over aPA system a year later. She tried to contact Clapton, but was told by his managerRobert Stigwood, "What are you gonna do? You're a girl. You don't have money to fight this. Let it go." She has not heard from Clapton himself but believes he is aware of the situation.[10]
Though only Gordon has been officially credited with writing the section, the band's keyboardistBobby Whitlock said:
Jim took that piano melody from his ex-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge. I know because in theDelaney & Bonnie days, I lived in John Garfield's old house in theHollywood Hills and there was a guest house with an upright piano in it. Rita and Jim were up there in the guest house and invited me to join in on writing this song with them called "Time". … Her sister Priscilla wound up recording it with her husband,Booker T. Jones. … Jim took the melody from Rita's song and didn't give her credit for writing it. Her boyfriend ripped her off. I knew but nobody would listen to or believe me. I have told this story for years.[13]
"Time" ended up on the 1973 albumChronicles by Booker T. and Priscilla.
In November 1970, she metKris Kristofferson at the Los Angeles airport when they were both catching the same flight to Tennessee. Instead of continuing to his intended destination inNashville, he got off in Memphis with her. The two married in 1973, had a child in 1974, and recorded several duet albums, which sold well and earned the duo aGrammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1974 for "From the Bottle to the Bottom", and in 1976 for "Lover Please".[2]
She also had a credited role as Maria in theSam Peckinpah directed Western filmPat Garrett and Billy the Kid in 1973, where Kristofferson played the role of Billy the Kid.
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Coolidge's greatest success on the pop charts came during 1977–1978 with four consecutive top 25 hits, remakes ofJackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher",Boz Scaggs's "We're All Alone",the Temptations' "The Way You Do The Things You Do", andMarcia Hines's "You".[14] Coolidge and Kristofferson divorced in June 1980.
In 1992, Coolidge sang joint lead vocals withRoger Waters on the title track of his albumAmused to Death.
She also was among the first hosts onVH1, a US cable network. In 2006, she recorded astandards album,And So Is Love, with artwork by Clifford Bailey.[9]
In 1997, Coolidge was one of the founding members ofWalela, aNative American music trio, that also included her sister Priscilla and Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield. The trio released studio albums in 1997 (Walela) and 2000 (Unbearable Love), a live album and DVD (Live in Concert) in 2004 and a compilation album (The Best of Walela) in 2007.[15]
Walela means "hummingbird" in theCherokee language.[16] The trio performed at the1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.[17]
Her autobiography,Delta Lady: A Memoir, was published in April 2016.[18]
Coolidge had lived inFallbrook, California, where she painted and exhibited her artwork until 2017.[9][failed verification]
Coolidge had romantic liaisons withStephen Stills andGraham Nash. Coolidge leaving Stills for Nash has been cited as a contributing factor behind the initial 1970 breakup ofCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young.[19] She was the "sweet little Indian girl" named "Raven" in the song "Cowboy Movie" onDavid Crosby's albumIf I Could Only Remember My Name.[20]
Coolidge was also involved withLeon Russell andJoe Cocker. During theMad Dogs & Englishmen tour, Coolidge's boyfriend at the time,Jim Gordon, assaulted her, resulting in a black eye for the rest of the tour. Coolidge ended the relationship and never spoke to him again.[12] Gordon was later diagnosed withschizophrenia and convicted of murdering his mother.[12]
Coolidge was married toKris Kristofferson from 1973 to 1980.[1] Their daughter, her only child, was born in 1974. Their marriage deteriorated after she miscarried her second child in 1977. In her memoir,Delta Lady, Coolidge described her marriage to Kristofferson as volatile due to his alcoholism and infidelity.[12] She revealed he was alsoemotionally abusive and would belittle her talent.[12] When they divorced she did not ask him for anything.[12] However, in 2016 Coolidge toldPeople that she and Kristofferson still shared a bond.[21]
Coolidge married Tatsuya Suda, acomputer architecture researcher, on June 19, 2004, in theCook Islands.[22] Suda, a Japanese citizen, retired in 2010 after a long tenure as a professor at theDonald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (UC Irvine), when allegations of professional misconduct against him surfaced. Coolidge divorced Suda in 2012. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of receiving illegal payments.[23][24]
In 2017, Coolidge rekindled a romantic relationship with Joe Hutto, a former college boyfriend. They married in 2018[25][26] and moved back to Tallahassee.[27]
In October 2014, Coolidge's sister, Priscilla, was murdered by her husband, Michael Siebert, in a murder-suicide.[12] The pain of that loss was exacerbated when Siebert's ashes were delivered to Rita's home and she had to dispose of them.[28]
Coolidge was inducted into the Southern Museum of Music Hall of Fame in 2015.[7]
Coolidge has won two Grammy Awards from her three nominations.[2]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | "From the Bottle to the Bottom" | Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group | Won |
| 1975 | "Loving Arms" | Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group | Nominated |
| 1976 | "Lover Please" | Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group | Won |
| Preceded by Sheena Easton For Your Eyes Only, 1981 | James Bond title artist Octopussy ("All Time High"), 1983 | Succeeded by Duran Duran A View to a Kill, 1985 |