No one told Rita Coolidge she had one of the most versatile voices in the music industry, she just discovered it the old-fashioned way by taking on whatever project and genre she wishes over her multi-decade career. Session singer with Ray Charles – check, two jazz albums – check, theme song to a James Bond film – check, two Grammy awards – check. It would take at least two volumes of memoirs to dissect Coolidge’s career, luckily for the public she’s currently in the process of doing just that, with the first volume slated to be published in 2016.
“I’ve been working on a book with Harper Collins and I think the drop date is April,” Coolidge said. “It’s a memoir, it’s kind of my life up to about 1980 when Kris (Kristofferson) and I divorced and that’s where the book ends, and my next book will be about after that, but I really wanted to paint a picture of where I came from, of growing up in my family and really just the great fortune.”
The singer who has worked with literally dozens of top entertainers and musicians over the years is still as humble as possible by racking up her stellar career to being in the right places at the right times. “Call it luck that I had to have been in Memphis at such a vibrant time of the recording industry and then onto California in the late ’60s and ’70s, it was being apart of what I call a golden age of rock ‘n’ roll, it really was the best time to be in California and be recording.
“That’s what the book is and I wrote the book with music journalist Michael Walker because I wanted the book to accurately paint a picture of the music business and then there are also many stories that are behind the scenes, so I think it was very cathartic to write the book and I know when I read it I laugh and cry so it’s kind of a woman’s journey in music and my spiritual path as well.”
A work in progress and a journey in progress is how Coolidge describes her outlook and output of work. Singing since she was two, she always loved to sing and came from a musical family, but her humbleness and down-to-earth sensibility led her down a different path in her college years.
“When I started at Florida State (College), my father was among other things a visual artist and so that was an art form that I had really loved since the time I was a little kid before I started school and my dad would say, ‘Children will draw a tree with two straight lines and a circle on top,’ and daddy would say, ‘That’s not what a tree looks like,’ so from the time I was three to four years old my father had taught me how to see things, so having that experience when I started Florida State and I had a major in art and minor in art history and English because there were so many things that I wanted to study ... I think I ended up in the art department because I find a very strong relationship between music and colours – and if I had majored in music I would of had to of been in the marching band at Florida State and I didn’t want to do that,” Coolidge joked.
Luckily for the music industry and her audiences, the singer’s musical talent led her down the path of being one of the most sought after vocalists, which in turn led to working with a number of people throughout her career.
“For experiences in the studio, I guess of the people that I’ve worked with when I was doing background sessions a lot I think Ray Charles was probably the strictest of producers,” Coolidge said. “When we would go in to do Ray Charles sessions he wanted everything to be perfect because he was a perfectionist. He would tell Venetta Fields who was one of The Blackberries ‘Venetta no vibratto, I want you to sing this straight tone, no vibratto,’ and she would be like, ‘Ray I can’t do that and he would say, ‘Everybody, listen to what I’m saying and just do it. It was hard to feel like he had gotten what he wanted. He was a lovely man, I always enjoyed being with Ray and being in social situations with him, but walking into a studio was a whole different story – he cracked the whip, nobody was his best friend anymore we were in there as soldiers.”
Those types of sessions, along with her personal idol and a love of a variety of musical styles helped mold the award-winning singer into the woman she is today.
“Peggy Lee has always been one of my idols and I’ll call her my ‘shero,’ and Peggy was a woman who jumped around through so many different styles of music and kind of knowing that about her I never felt like there were limitations. If I wanted to do a jazz record, it might not be as easy for me as it was for her because she was a queen diva,” Coolidge said. “I think my show is so eclectic and I think it reflects all the different genres of music that I have recorded and explored.”
An important aspect of her singing career has been in following the belief less is more. A song does not need a thousand notes to be beautiful.
“Instead of singing all of them choose one or two that touch people’s hearts and I love singers who are vocal gymnasts, Whitney Houston to me is one of the greatest singers of all time,” Colidge said. “I could never do what she did and I respect her so very much, but I come from a place of Peggy Lee who was not a vocal gymnast – less is more in the way that she sang and it really is in the interpretation and tone, just choosing those notes and where to move with music and that’s just my style.
“Apart from being learned, I’ve heard people try to imitate me and I don’t think anybody does it real well and also I kind of back phrase when I sing, especially when I’m singing ballads. I have to consciously, if I’m singing something really time sensitive, like James Taylor is always spot on the rhythm when he sings and for him it would be hard to back phrase.”
Coolidge says there was no scheme or planning for her versatile career. She had the big picture, but wanted to take it one day at a time and loving thatday – the music of that day.
“When I wanted to do both of the jazz albums, I recorded the first one was a little bit easier because A&M (Records) was selling records and they said, ‘Well if you want to do a jazz album we’ll let you record it but we’re probably not going to release it.’ But it was released in Japan because they did want a jazz album and then later on it was released in the U.S. ... I feel that all the choices I’ve made have led me to where I am now and I’m pretty darn happy.”
Cooidge prides herself on letting people be themselves, and chalks it up to her experinces throughout life.
“I think I did learn to let people be the best they can be with their instruments and I try not to tell people what to do, and consequently I think that every show we rise to the excellence of each other, to the best person in the band or whoever is playing really well that night,” Coolidge said. “Everybody comes up to it, we’re a unit and very cohesive in our personal relationships and the music – I think that audiences are often surprised at how the show has evolved; and I love Banff, I’ve had some wonderful times there.” Rita Coolidge: The Delta Lady Show takes place this Sunday (Sept. 20) at The Banff Centre’s Eric Harvie Theatre.
