Etta James News

The R&B great has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after suffering complications from an abdominal operation she underwent in mid-June and is now in stable condition.

James, 69, checked into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment, forcing her and her Roots band to drop out of the B.B. King Blues Festival. She had been due to headline the tour with blues legend B.B. King and soul icon Al Green; the fest kicked off Tuesday at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida.

"If it had been left solely up to her, she would have checked herself out of that hospital and started the tour regardless of her delicate health," James' manager, Lupe De Leon, told Reuters. "However, her doctor advised that were she to do so, it would put her at very great risk."

Chaka Khan will take James' place on the triple bill for most of the concert dates.

De Leon said that James hopes to recover in time to join her fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers for at least a few dates at the end of August.

After being discovered at the age of 14 by bandleader and bluesman Johnny Otis, James shot to fame in the mid-'50s and scored a string of hits, including "Wallflower (Dance with Me Henry)," "Good Rockin' Daddy," "All I Could Do Was Cry," "Tell Mama," and her signature made-for-weddings ballad, "At Last."

In 1960, she signed with Chicago's pioneering Chess Records, where she remained one of its top artists for 15 years.  

But she was eventually sidelined by a heroin addiction that landed her brief stints in jail for petty crime, as well as a Los Angeles -area psychiatric hospital.

James made a comeback with her soulful 1988 album, Seven Year Itch, and, switching to jazz, scored the first of three Grammy Awards for 1994's Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday.

She has been going strong ever since, especially after gastric bypass surgery in 2003 helped her shed more than 200 pounds.

Her most recent release is 2006's All the Way.