Despite her troubled life and premature death, Esther Phillips is remembered as
a powerful, pocket-rocket, R&B diva who first rose to prominence as a child
prodigy in the 1950s and went on to become a platinum-selling star who lent her
smooth, quirky vocal style to some great soul, jazz and blues records.
Phillips grew up singing in church choirs in her hometown of Galveston, Texas,
but her parents' divorce meant that she also spent time in Los Angeles, where
her mother had re-located. It was there that she was first spotted at the age of
13, after entering a talent show held ...