Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.
After several years as a highly sought after session vocalist, Coolidge began to release albums as a solo artist. Her self titled debut was released in 1971. This was followed by Nice Feelin' in 1972, the title track being a song by Marc Benno, one of three songs by Marc that she recorded in the early 1970s. In 1977, she scored what would be the most successful album of her career, the platinum-certified Anytime...Anywhere. The album spawned many hit singles. Her first hit was "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher", a cover of the Jackie Wilson song. Wilson's version reached No. 6 on the Billboard charts, while the Coolidge single became one of her best sellers, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1977. She followed that success with another gold-certified single, "We're All Alone", which reached No. 7 later that year on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 1 on the Cashbox chart.
In 1979, Rita Coolidge travelled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between 2 and 4 March, alongside Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and Billy Joel, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. Her performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s she scored other hits with "One Fine Day" (written by Carole King and a hit for the 1960s girl group the Chiffons), "Words" (The Bee Gees), "I Don't Want to Talk About It" (written by Danny Whitten), "The Way You Do the Things You Do" (The Temptations), "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" (Carole Bayer Sager), and "You". In 1980, Coolidge was the voice of Melissa Raccoon in the Christmas Raccoons, and reprised the role for a subsequent special The Raccoons on Ice in 1981. Both of these specials served as a predecessor to the critically acclaimed Canadian animated series The Raccoons. Coolidge also sang several songs for the specials, all of which were on the 1983 album Lake Freeze
In the mid 1980s, Coolidge found success vocalizing for movie soundtracks. In 1983, she recorded the song "All Time High" for the James Bond film Octopussy. The single was one of her two #1 hits on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts. Coolidge also recorded the love theme from the movie Splash, "Love Came For Me".
In 1991, she recorded two Japanese pop songs, "Ame" (Rain) by Chisato Moritaka and "Rainy Blue" by Hideaki Tokunaga.
She contributed vocals on the title track from the Roger Waters album Amused To Death, released in 1992.
In 2004, Coolidge released an anthology covering her career, titled Delta Lady — The Rita Coolidge Anthology.
In 2006, Coolidge released a jazz CD, And So Is Love. That same year, she toured the United Kingdom on the "Once in a Lifetime Country Tour" with Don Williams and Kenny Rogers.
Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Coolidge
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