Rita Coolidge born May 1, is an American recording artist. During the s and s, her songs were on Billboard magazine's pop , country , adult contemporary , and jazz charts, [ 1 ] and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and then-husband Kris Kristofferson. Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee.
Coolidge did not receive songwriting credits for "Superstar" which later became a hit for The Carpenters. She became known as "The Delta Lady" and inspired Russell to write a song of the same name for her.
Coolidge also did not receive songwriting credits for the coda of the single " Layla " by Eric Clapton 's band Derek and the Dominos. Once they met with Clapton, Coolidge played the piece she composed for him and she gave him a cassette. She tried to contact Clapton, but was told by his manager Robert Stigwood , "What are you gonna do?
You're a girl. You don't have money to fight this. Let it go. Though only Gordon has been officially credited with writing the section, the band's keyboardist Bobby Whitlock said:. Jim took that piano melody from his ex-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge. Rita and Jim were up there in the guest house and invited me to join in on writing this song with them called "Time". Her boyfriend ripped her off.
I knew but nobody would listen to or believe me. I have told this story for years. In November , she met Kris Kristofferson at the Los Angeles airport when they were both catching the same flight to Tennessee.
