Rita Coolidge biography
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.
Early-Life
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Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee. She is of Scottish and Cherokee Native American ancestry.
Career
Coolidge is a graduate of Florida State University in Tallahassee. She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Leon Russell to write a song of the same name for her. In November 1970, she met Kris Kristofferson at the LA airport when they were both catching the same flight to Tennessee and he got off in Memphis with her rather than go on his originally planned stop in Nashville; the two married in 1973. With him, she recorded several duet albums which sold well, and earned them 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". Willie Nelson references her in Devil in a Sleepin' Bag on Shotgun Willie, singing:
Just got back from New York City
Kris (Kristofferson) and Rita (Coolidge) done it all
Bought perfection there for all the world to see
Lord, I heard an angel singing in that Philharmonic Hall
Rita Coolidge, Rita Coolidge, cleft for me
Coolidge's greatest success on the pop charts came during 1977-1978 with four consecutive top 25 hits. The list consisted of remakes of Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher", Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone", and The Temptations' "The Way You Do The Things You Do", followed by "You".
Personal life
Coolidge was married to Kris Kristofferson from 1973-1980.
Coolidge now lives in Fallbrook, a small town in southern California. She is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.
Walela
In 1997, Coolidge was one of the founding members of Walela, a Native American music trio, that also includes Coolidge's sister Priscilla and Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield. The trio released studio albums in 1997 (
Walela) and 2000 (
Unbearable Love), a live album and DVD (
Live in Concert) in 2004 and a compilation album (
The Best of Walela) in 2007. Walela means hummingbird in Cherokee.
International albums
Singles
References
Biography from 
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