Esther Phillips "You're coming home" (live officiel) | Archive INA

Got this this morning. An all too rare a clip of Esther Phillips performing live . She was the consummate Queen of this kind of close up with a small ensemble backing in the clubs! I have read through the very comprehensive booklet supplied with her boxed set Brand New Day.Gives a complete history of where every one of the 103 tracks comes from and how this fits into a life so desperately sad in places yet triumphant in others. She had a meteoric rise to fame with multiple hits starting at 15 followed by a crash into obscurity at 19. This triggered deep depression, alcohol abuse and drugs. During this phase she had several admissions to rehabs including a stay in a notorious Kentucky mental institution as well as some time in jail. But she continued to plug away at some of the seedier clubs, as she says sometimes being on the road for 500 miles a day to get to the next booking and so the only way to keep going with hardly any sleep seemed to get high. However she eventually turned her life around by means of a TWO YEAR stay in a very tough rehab run by recovered addicts. It was tough, she said, no medicines and she was not allowed to do any music. But they sat up with you all night to see you through! This was 1972. Unfortunately a decade and a half of abuse had caused damage and she died in 1984 at the age of 48 from simultaneous kidney and liver failure.RIP Esther.