KAILUA-KONA — Two-time Grammy Award winner Rita Coolidge and her band will grace the Honokaa People’s Theatre stage on Saturday.
With one of the most enduring solo careers in all of music, Coolidge’s impact on the contemporary music scene is profound with such musical hits as “Fever,” “We’re All Alone,” “One Fine Day,” “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher” and “The Way You Do the Things You Do.”
She’s toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Stephen Stills as well as George Harrison and Jimmy Buffett. In 1973, she married singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson.
“You know, I had moved from Memphis to Los Angeles, and I think I recognized that was something really special,” Coolidge told West Hawaii Today during an interview on her career. “I actually felt like when I got to LA and started becoming a part of that whole music scene, it was just people supporting and loving each other. There was no competition. People just kind of fell by each other’s sessions and said, ‘Hey, man what’s happening?’ It was peace and love. It just felt so warm and just so embracing.”
That was a different vibe than what she had felt in Memphis, where there was a little bit of competition and a cold shoulder every once in a while.
“California was way different,” she said.
Of all the big name artists with whom she has collaborated, there were still some with whom she wished she could have shared a stage.
“I never got to work with Elton John, although we were friends, and I hung out with him and spent time with him, but I never got to record with him,” she said. “I always loved his music so much. He’s amazing. I was actually going through some pictures in my phone last night and found a picture of me and Elton John and just marveled at what a baby he was. I’ve known him a long time.”
Coolidge is also a fan of more modern-day recording artists, some of whom may surprise some fans.
“I think I have almost all of Taylor Swift’s records, because I just love her style of writing,” said Coolidge. “I love the way she, at her age, continues to reinvent her music and herself. Every time it just gets better and better. To me she’s just an amazing, young woman. I’m looking forward to her new record, and also Sam Smith’s new record. They’re both coming out pretty soon.”
With so many decades of performing on the road she has a collection of stories to share. Coolidge remembers a time when her now grown daughter got to meet her hero, Mick Jagger.
“It’s literally just one of the funniest things, when my daughter was about 4 years old, she was a huge Rolling Stone fan and Chris (Kristofferson) and I used to take her to Rolling Stone concerts,” she said. “We were backstage at one of the Rolling Stones concerts, and Casey, my daughter, her mouth was just hanging open. She was just looking at Mick with, ‘Oh my god. I hope he talks to me.’
Anyway, Mick was standing alone, and he motioned to Casey to come over,” Coolidge continued. “Without hesitation, she walked over to him, and he leaned down and whispered something in her ear. It was probably three, four minutes he talked to her, and she’s shaking her head yes, and she’s smiling, and her eyes got big. I just couldn’t imagine what he might have been saying to her. When he finished talking to her, she ran back over to me and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Casey, what did he say to you?’ She said, ‘Mom. What Mick said to me is between me and Mick.’ She never told. She’s 40 now, and she won’t tell me what he said.”
Coolidge loves her life and career and is honored to share her gift with the world.
“When I got in the music business, it was the beginning of something,” she said. “We had a voice that was changing the world. I think our generation was probably the first one that actually wrote about the world around us, and about changing the world and about just really being blatantly honest about what’s going on.”
“I’ve had this wonderful life in the music business,” said Coolidge. “I really have been blessed to be able to have a career for this long. I feel like I’m caught up in a fairy tale. I love my life.”
Doors open at 6 p.m. for the performance at 7. Tickets are $44 and $65 and can be purchased online at www.bluesbearhawaii.com or by calling 896-4845.