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BY ELIZABETH RINEHART

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Legendary singer Etta James died Friday morning at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, Calif. Although her death was attributed to complications from leukemia, CelebTV reports it was not her only ailment.

“The singer was plagued with a string of health problems. In 2010 she was diagnosed with leukemia. She also suffered from dementia and Hepatitis C.”

The New York Daily News remembers her wedding-favorite hit, “At Last”:

“Her version of ‘At Last’ is absolutely unparalleled and when you listen to someone like Christina Aguilera, who’s done it prominently recently, you really hear the difference. You can really hear that no one else has that depth of feeling.”

James was born in 1938 to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins and never knew for sure who her real father was. As The New York Times reports, she recorded her first single at age 15, “The Wallflower,” which became a success.

“‘The Wallflower’ rose to No. 2 on the rhythm-and-blues charts in 1954. As was often the case in those days with records by black performers, a toned-down version was soon recorded by a white singer and found a wider audience: Georgia Gibbs’s version, with the title and lyric changed to ‘Dance With Me, Henry,’ was a No. 1 pop hit in 1955.”

James’s life took a turn in 1960 when she was signed to Chicago-based label Chess Records. According to The Telegraph...

“She began taking heroin, which was soon to become her drug of choice: ‘If I felt vulnerable and anxious when I was straight, I felt unapproachable and mellow when I was high,’ she wrote years later. ‘I got hooked real quick ... In a world where cool meant so much, junk pushed me into the territory of the extra-cool.’”

James spent the better part of the 60s addicted to the drug, and in the mid-70s was found writing bad checks to support her habit, and, according to the Los Angeles Times...

“James was offered a choice between prison or rehab. She chose the latter and kicked heroin, but she started using cocaine a few years later. A spiritual epiphany led her to give up cocaine and alcohol, and in the 1980s she began a personal and professional renaissance, reestablishing her credibility in the music world.”

WABC reports, her career shot back up once again in the 90s, when she was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

“[She] captured a Grammy in 2003 for best contemporary blues album for ‘Let’s Roll;’ one in 2004 for best traditional blues album for ‘Blues to the Bone;’ and one for best jazz vocal performance for 1994's ‘Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday.’ She was also awarded a special Grammy in 2003 for lifetime achievement and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

James is survived by her husband of 42 years, Artis Mills, and her sons Donto and Sametto James.