The original Delta Lady.
Rita Coolidge, who is more American than most U.S. female singers thanks to her Cherokee heritage, is to American rock and roll what Pattie Boyd is British rock and roll - a legendary muse. She was the Indian girl named "Raven" in David Crosby's solo song "Cowboy Movie," and she also inspired inspired Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" (covered by Joe Cocker) and Stephen Stills' "Cherokee." She dated both Russell and Stills, as well as Graham Nash and Derek and the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon. Ironically, the piano riff used in the coda of Derek and the Dominos' "Layla," which Eric Clapton wrote about Pattie Boyd (Derek was Eric), was Rita Coolidge's creation for another song. Jim Gordon gave Clapton the riff for keyboardist Bobby Whitlock to play but didn't tell Ms. Coolidge, whom he'd dated and broken up with.
Ms. Coolidge was part of Joe Cocker and Leon Russell's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1970 and sang the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett song "Superstar" (later recorded by the Carpenters) as a solo feature on that tour. She was married to Kris Kristofferson for seven years beginning in 1973, and she worked with him. Her solo career took off in the late seventies, and she found success as a cover artist; she recorded Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" and the Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do," as well as contemporary fare like Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone" and Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager's "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love."
Today Rita Coolidge is a painter, and she has also published her memoirs. A new album from our heroine is slated for 2018.
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