“One of the reasons I didn’t get to this record sooner was because I went through such a grieving process when she was killed. “It has affected every part of my life,” Coolidge says. Part of the time since was spent dealing with the grief from the death of her sister and writing partner, Priscilla, who in 2014 was shot in a murder-suicide by her husband in California. She tried her hand at blues on 1996’s “Out of the Blues,” jazz on 2005’s “And So is Love” and holiday music on 2012’s “A Rita Coolidge Christmas.” She released her last album of new material, “Love Lessons,” in 1992. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart - but eventually suffered the fortune of many late 1970s pop singers. She continued to have hits through 1983’s “All Time High” - which hit No. The disc even produced a third Top 20 hit, “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” It was “Anytime … Anywhere” that made Coolidge a solo star. And I don’t know, people considered us the king and queen of country music. “And that kind of happened to me during our marriage. Because he was an actor and having great success as an actor and making movies and what he really wanted was to have a higher profile in the music world.

Two more albums with Kristofferson also hit Top 25.Īsked to explain her success with Kristofferson, Coolidge says, “Well, I couldn’t answer that. It’s a destination for so many record artists.”Ĭoolidge released her first solo album in 1971, but had her first real success with Kristofferson when they released their 1973 duet disc “Full Moon,” which hit No. Because Sunset Sound was … very busy in the ’70s and has still has been able to maintain that over all these years. “And my god, sang with everybody in the world, from Elton John to Stephen Stills - all kinds of people at that time.

It’s not old music, it’s just that it’s been around for a while,” she says, laughing at her characterization.Ĭoolidge notes that he did her solo records there, as well as her hit albums with then-husband Kris Kristofferson. “That was, I think, part of the process of trying to reignite the flame under that old music - the music that I made. Coolidge will play cuts from the disc, as well as her hits, Sunday April 15 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.įor the new disc, Coolidge returned to Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles, where she recorded all of her biggest albums.

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