Early life Phillips was born Esther Mae Washington in
Galveston, Texas, U.S. Her parents divorced during her adolescence, and she divided her time between her father, in
Houston, and her mother, in the
Watts section of Los Angeles. She was brought up singing in church and was reluctant to enter a
talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted. A mature singer at the age of 14, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the
Barrelhouse Club, owned by
Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for
Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as Little Esther. She later took the surname
Phillips as her
stage name, reportedly inspired by a sign at a gas station.
Early career Her first hit record was "
Double Crossing Blues", with the Johnny Otis Quintette and the
Robins (a vocal group), released in 1950 by
Savoy Records, which reached number 1 on the
Billboard R&B chart. She made several hit records for Savoy with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, including "
Mistrusting Blues" (a duet with
Mel Walker) and "Cupid's Boogie", both of which also went to number 1 that year. Four more of her records made the Top 10 in the same year: "Misery" (number 9), "Deceivin' Blues" (number 4), "Wedding Boogie" (number 6), and "Far Away Blues (Xmas Blues)" (number 6). Few female artists performing in any genre had such success in their debut year. In 1954, she returned to Houston to live with her father and recuperate. Short on money, she worked in small nightclubs around the South, punctuated by periodic hospital stays in
Lexington, Kentucky, to treat her addiction. In 1962,
Kenny Rogers discovered her singing at a Houston club and helped her get a contract with Lenox Records, owned by his brother
Lelan.
Comeback Phillips eventually recovered enough to launch a comeback in 1962. Now billed as Esther Phillips instead of Little Esther, she recorded a country tune, "
Release Me", with the producer Bob Gans. This went to number 1 on the R&B chart and number 8 on the
pop chart. After several other minor R&B hits for Lenox, she was signed by
Atlantic Records. Her
cover of
the Beatles' song "
And I Love Him" nearly made the R&B Top 20 in 1965. The Beatles flew her to the UK for her first overseas performances. In July 2018,
Paul McCartney recalled "the earliest [Beatles cover] that really caught my ear was by Esther Phillips ... 'And I Love Him' which is really great. I love it." She had other hits in the 1960s for Atlantic, such as the
Jimmy Radcliffe song "Try Me", which featured a saxophone part by
King Curtis (and is often mistakenly credited as the
James Brown song of the same title), but she had no more chart-toppers. Her
heroin dependence worsened, and she checked into a rehabilitation facility. There she met the singer
Sam Fletcher. While undergoing treatment, she recorded some sides for
Roulette in 1969, mostly produced by Lelan Rogers. On her release, she returned to Los Angeles and re-signed with Atlantic. Her friendship with Fletcher resulted in a performance engagement at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper club in late 1969, which produced the album
Burnin'. She performed with the Johnny Otis Show at the
Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970.
The 1970s and 1980s One of her biggest post-1950s triumphs was her first album for the
Kudu label,
From a Whisper to a Scream, in 1972. The lead track, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", an account of drug use written by
Gil Scott-Heron, was nominated for a
Grammy Award. Phillips lost to
Aretha Franklin, but Franklin presented the trophy to her, saying she should have won it instead. In 1975, she released a
disco-style update of
Dinah Washington's "
What a Diff'rence a Day Makes", her biggest hit single since "Release Me". It reached the
Top 20 in the United States and the Top 10 in the
UK Singles Chart. On November 8, 1975, she performed the song on an episode of ''NBC's Saturday Night
(later called Saturday Night Live'') hosted by
Candice Bergen. The accompanying album of the same name became her biggest seller yet, with arranger
Joe Beck on guitar,
Michael Brecker on tenor sax,
David Sanborn on alto sax,
Randy Brecker on trumpet,
Steve Khan on guitar and
Don Grolnick on keyboards. She continued to record and perform throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, completing seven albums for Kudu/CTI and four for
Mercury Records, which signed her in 1977. Her first album for Mercury, ''You've Come a Long Way, Baby
, was released that year; according to Village Voice'' critic
Robert Christgau, "using Kudu producer
Pee Wee Ellis and the basic Kudu formula—mixing blues and standards and rock with
MOR and disco
crossovers—she comes up with her most consistent album of the '70s." Her funeral services were conducted by Johnny Otis. she was reinterred in 1985 in the Morning Light section at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles. A bronze marker recognizes her career achievements and quotes a
Bible passage: "In My Father's House Are Many Mansions" (
John 14:2). == Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ==