After Dinner Speakers: Rita Coolidge, Martine McCutcheon, Paul Kaye

Born in Nashville in 1944, pop vocalist Rita Coolidge began her musiccareer in the late 1960s as a professional backup singer, hitting her stride in 1970 when she toured and recorded with Stephen Stills, Delaney and Bonnie, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour. The following year she began a solo career with a self-titled album on A&M Records, featuring by Clapton and Stills. After singing backup on Kris Kristofferson's 1972 smash Jesus Was a Capricorn, Coolidge married Kristofferson; however, they divorced in 1980. Coolidge maintained her solo career while raising a family, recording a string of releases throughout the '70s, a mixture of originals and pop/R&B covers. In 1977 she scored her biggest hit with a cover of Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher." She returned to the charts in 1983 with "All Time High," from the Octopussy soundtrack. During the late 1980s, Coolidge abandoned her solo career to resume work as a backup singer, working with Jimmy Buffett (Hot Water, 1988), Aaron Neville (Warm Your Heart, 1991) and Roger Waters (Amused to Death, 1992). In 1992 she released her first solo album in years, Love Lessons, which featured duets with Lee Greenwood and Bonnie Bramlett. Rita Coolidge's latest album, Dancing With An Angel, came out in 1997 on the Attic label.