The great Etta James has died, ladies and gentlemen, at the age of 73. She was a tough, loud, dirty old broad who brought some much needed sex into the sounds of the early 60s with songs like "Something's Got a Hold on Me," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," and "I'd Rather Go Blind." Her signature song, "At Last," has become a wedding standard. And now she has passed on.

The cause was complications from leukemia. She died at Riverside Community Hospital, near where she lived in Riverside.

We saw her perform at the Masonic Auditorium during S.F. Jazz Week about ten years back, at which point she was still as rough-around-the-edges and raunchy as ever in her sixties. She will be missed.

Below, another of her biggest fans, local drag star Juanita More!, performing an Etta tribute at the Herbst Theater in 2007.