“Well, you could have been anything that you wanted to,” Rita Coolidge sings in her 1977 cover of the Temptations staple, “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” And it’s true — Coolidge could have been anything that she wanted to. Or, at least, she could sing any way she wanted to. The Tennessee native, who began her rise to fame as a backup singer for the likes of Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and Dave Mason, can move melodies through any genre, from gospel to pop. But it wasn’t until her breakout album in 1977, Anytime…Anywhere, that the songstress of Cherokee descent achieved star status. Now, with her biography Delta Lady: A Memoir fresh off the press, Coolidge is on the road again. Tune in for her performance in Stowe this Friday.
find, follow, fan us: