Rita Coolidge

Life and career Early life Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee on May 1, 1945. She is the daughter of Dick and Charlotte Coolidge, a minister and schoolteacher, with sisters Linda and Priscilla, and brother Raymond. Coolidge's father was Cherokee, and her mother was half Cherokee and half Scottish. However, the Coolidge family was never enrolled in any Native American tribe. She attended Nashville's Maplewood High School and was graduated from Andrew Jackson Senior High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Coolidge is a graduate of Florida State University, and a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. for artists including Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Harry Chapin, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills. She was featured in Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and album, singing Russell's and Bonnie Bramlett's song "Superstar". Coolidge did not receive songwriting credits for "Superstar" which later became a hit for The Carpenters.

She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Russell to write a song of the same name for her.

"Layla" Coolidge also did not receive songwriting credits for the coda of the 1971 single "Layla" by Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos.

"Time" ended up on the 1973 album Chronicles by Booker T. and Priscilla.

Kris Kristofferson

In November 1970, she met Kris Kristofferson at the Los Angeles airport when they were both catching the same flight to Tennessee. Instead of continuing to his intended destination in Nashville, 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 a Grammy 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". Coolidge and Kristofferson divorced in June 1980.

Later career Working with Booker T. Jones", Coolidge recorded "We Could Stay Together" which was credited to both of them. It was backed with "The Best of You" and released as a single in Australia on A&M K-8030 in September. It was a chart hit there, peaking at No. 60.

In 1992, Coolidge sang joint lead vocals with Roger Waters on the title track of his album Amused to Death.

She also was among the first hosts on VH1, a US cable network. In 2006, she recorded a standards album, And So Is Love, with artwork by Clifford Bailey.

Walela means "hummingbird" in the Cherokee language. The trio performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Books Her autobiography, Delta Lady: A Memoir, was published in April 2016.

Personal life

Coolidge had lived in Fallbrook, California, where she painted and exhibited her artwork until 2017. She was the "sweet little Indian girl" named "Raven" in the song "Cowboy Movie" on David Crosby's album If I Could Only Remember My Name.

Coolidge was also involved with Leon Russell and Joe Cocker. During the Mad 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. She revealed he was also emotionally abusive and would belittle her talent.

Coolidge married Tatsuya Suda, a computer architecture researcher, on June 19, 2004, in the Cook Islands. Suda, a Japanese citizen, retired in 2010 after a long tenure as a professor at the Donald 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.

In 2017, Coolidge rekindled a romantic relationship with Joe Hutto, a former college boyfriend. They married in 2018 and moved back to Tallahassee.

Family In October 2014, Coolidge's sister, Priscilla, was murdered by her husband, Michael Siebert, in a murder-suicide.

Awards and nominations Coolidge was inducted into the Southern Museum of Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Grammy Awards Coolidge has won two Grammy Awards from her three nominations. 1974 "From the Bottle to the Bottom" Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group 1975 "Loving Arms" Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group 1976 "Lover Please" Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Discography

Rita Coolidge (1971) Nice Feelin' (1971) The Lady's Not for Sale (1972) Fall into Spring (1974) It's Only Love (1975) Anytime...Anywhere (1977) Love Me Again (1978) Satisfied (1979) Heartbreak Radio (1981) Never Let You Go (1983) Dancing with an Angel (1991)