20th Jan 2012
When Barack and Michelle Obama took their inaugural dance as America’s first couple, it was to the strains of Etta James’ signature song, At Last.
James had been out of the spotlight since January 2010 when she was hospitalized with MRSA, a bacterial infection resistant to many antibiotics. She had been seeking treatment to end a dependency to painkillers and other over-the-counter medications. Donto James, her son, said at the time that his mother had been battling Alzheimer’s disease since 2009. Most recently, she was being treated for chronic leukemia.
