- published: 17 Jul 2014
- views: 196444
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.
Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee. She is of Scottish and Cherokee Native American ancestry.
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:
Chorus:
The closer you get, the further I fall.
Ill be over the edge now in no time at all.
Im falling faster and faster and faster with no time to
stall.
The closer you get, the further I fall.
The things that you say to me, the look on your face,
brings out the best in
Do I see a trace in your eyes of love?
Chorus
Could I be dreamin?
Is this really real?
cause theres something magic the way that I feel in your
arms tonight.
Chorus
Keep fallin, oh, yeah, yeah, keep fallin, mm, fallin, oh,
yeah, yeah, im
Fallin.
Yes, Im fallin. yes, Im fallin. yes, Im fallin.
Yes, Im fallin. yes, Im fallin. yes, Im fallin.