Electric Roulette Birthdays - Etta James and John Cooper Clarke

Two very different artists, yet equally important in their own way, celebrate birthdays today. Firm mod favourite and R&B legend Etta James is 69, where as Salford's number one punk-poet John Cooper Clarke is a mere 58.

James, born this day in Los Angeles in 1938, was discovered by Johnny Otis in the mid-1950s and had her first taste of success via 'The Wallflower' reaching number 1 in the R&B charts in 1955. Yet it was signing to Chess in 1960 that was the key to her career blossoming, growing from an R&B-only act in to a very credible 'mainstream' pop chart act. By 1961, 'At Last' had not only hit the top spot in the R&B chart, but also found itself sat at number 22 in the pop charts.

Many more top ten/twenty hits followed throughout the 1960s, including 1967's classic 'Tell Mama', a track you're still likely to hear in any mod/soul/R&B club worth it's salt today. She left Chess in 1975, and whilst the 1980's weren't particularly successful for her, she continued to record and tour, as she does to this day. In 1993 she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, followed in 2001 with an induction to the Blues Hall Of Fame. She even received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2003, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked her the 62nd greatest artist of all time in a recent poll

Here's Etta ripping it up with 'Something Got a Hold on Me" - happy birthday, Etta!:

Lancashire-born John Cooper Clarke, 'the bard of Salford', is Britain's most famous (and possibly only) punk-poet. Clarke gained a strong live reputation during punk's peak years as a supporting act for the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks, banging out his urban, cynical and witty poetry to the bemused and amused alike.

Clarke recorded a handful of albums in the late-70s and early-80s, and although his career was blighted by heroin addiction and presumably a changing of the times, he still performs live today and can often be found supporting kindred souls, The Fall.

I wanted to honour punk's very own Bob Dylan with a clip of him performing 'Kung Fu International', but as it is I couldn't find one, so here's 'Health Fanatic' instead: