Born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas, when she was an adolescent, her parents divorced, and she was forced to divide her time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Because she was brought up singing in church, she was hesitant to enter a talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted and she complied. A mature singer at age fourteen, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club owned by Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as 'Little Esther Phillips' (she reportedly took the surname from a gas station sign).
Her first hit record was Double Crossing Blues, recorded in 1950 for Savoy Records. After several hit records with Savoy, including her duet with Mel Walker on Mistrusting Blues, which went to number one that year, as did "Cupid Boogie". Other Phillips records that made it onto the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1950 include "Misery" (number 9), "Deceivin' Blues" (number 4), "Wedding Boogie" (number 6), and "Faraway Blues" (number 6). Few female artists, R&B or otherwise, had ever enjoyed such success in their debut year. Phillips left Otis and the Savoy label at the end of 1950 and signed with Federal Records.
But just as quickly as the hits had started, they stopped. Although she recorded more than thirty sides for Federal, only one, Ring-a-Ding-Doo, charted; the song made it to number 8 in 1952. Not working with Otis was part of her problem; the other part was her drug usage. By the middle of the decade Phillips was chronically addicted to drugs.
In 1954, she returned to Houston to live with her father to recuperate. Short on money, she worked in small nightclubs around the South, punctuated by periodic hospital stays in Lexington, Kentucky, stemming from her addiction. In 1962, Kenny Rogers re-discovered her while singing at a Houston club and got her signed to his brother Lelan’s Lenox label.
Phillips ultimately got well enough to launch a comeback in 1962. Now billed as Esther Phillips instead of Little Esther, she recorded a country tune, Release Me, with producer Bob Gans. This went to number 1 R&B and number 8 on the pop listings. After several other minor R&B hits on Lenox, she was signed by Atlantic Records. Her cover of The Beatles' song And I Love Him nearly made the R&B Top Ten in 1965 and the Beatles flew her to the UK for her first overseas performances.
She had other hits in the 1960s on the label, but no more chart toppers, and she waged a battle with heroin dependency. With her addiction worsening, Phillips checked into a rehab facility. While undergoing treatment, she cut some sides for Roulette in 1969, mostly produced by Lelan Rogers. On her release, she moved back to Los Angeles and re-signed with the Atlantic label. A late 1969 gig at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper club produced the album Burnin'. She performed with the Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970.
One of her biggest post-1950s triumphs was in 1972 with her first album for Kudu Records. The song penned by Gil Scott-Heron, Home Is Where the Hatred Is, - an account of drug use — was lead track on From a Whisper to a Scream which went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award. When Phillips lost to Aretha Franklin, the latter presented the trophy to Phillips, saying she should have won it instead.
Taylor continued to cut albums with her until in 1975, she scored her biggest hit single since "Release Me" with a disco-style update of Dinah Washington's What a Diff'rence a Day Makes. It reached a high of a Top 20 chart appearance in the U.S., and Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. On November 8, 1975 she performed the song on an episode of NBC's Saturday Night hosted by Candice Bergen. The accompanying album of the same name became her biggest seller yet, with arranger Joe Beck on guitar, Michael Brecker on tenor sax, David Sanborn on alto sax, and Randy Brecker on trumpet to Steve Khan on guitar and Don Grolnick on keyboards.
She continued to record and perform throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, completing a total of seven albums on Kudu and four with Mercury Records, for whom she signed in 1977. In 1983, she charted for the final time on a tiny independent label, Winning with Turn Me Out, which reached #85 R&B. She completed recording her final album a few months before her death, but it was not until 1986 that the label (Muse) released the record.
Phillips died at UCLA Medical Center in Carson, California in 1984, at the age of 48 from liver and kidney failure due to drug use. Her funeral services were conducted by Johnny Otis, and she was buried in the Morning Light section, at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. The bronze marker recognizes her career achievements, as well as quoting a Bible passage, "In My Father's House Are Many Mansions" - St. John 14:2
I Could Have Told You So
Esther Phillips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She'd love you awhile and desert you,
If only you'd asked I could have told you so!
I could have saved you some crying,
Yes, I could have told you she was lying,
But you were in love and you didn't want to know.
I hear her now as I toss and turn and try to sleep,
And now it's over and done with,
She'll find someone new to have fun with!
Through all of my tears I could have told you so.
And now it's over and done with,
She'll find someone new to have fun with!
Through all of my tears I could have told you so,
Through all of my tears I could have told you so.
In Esther Phillips's song "I Could Have Told You So", the singer expresses regret for not warning their friend about a lover who they knew would eventually hurt and deceive them. The singer laments that they could have saved their friend from heartbreak and tears if only they had spoken up. Despite their own tears of sorrow, the singer is not surprised that the relationship has ended, as they had always known that the lover would move on to find someone new to have fun with.
The lyrics convey a sense of regret and helplessness that is relatable to anyone who has watched a loved one willfully ignore red flags in a relationship. The song's slow, mournful melody and Phillip's soulful delivery emphasize the sadness and poignancy of the lyrics.
Interestingly, the song was actually written by Columbia Records executive, George Avakian, under the pseudonym "P.D.Q. Bach". Avakian has stated that he wrote the song as a response to Frank Sinatra's album "In the Wee Small Hours", which he felt lacked a strong narrative flow. The song has since been covered by several artists, including Sinatra himself.
Line by Line Meaning
I could have told you she would hurt you,
I knew that she was going to cause you pain.
She'd love you awhile and desert you,
She would show you affection for some time before abandoning you.
If only you'd asked I could have told you so!
If you had asked me, I would have revealed the truth to you.
I could have saved you some crying,
I could have prevented you from shedding tears.
Yes, I could have told you she was lying,
I was aware that she was deceiving you.
But you were in love and you didn't want to know.
Despite my warning, you chose to ignore my advice due to your love for her.
I hear her now as I toss and turn and try to sleep,
I am haunted by her voice as I struggle to sleep.
I hear her now making promises she'll never keep;
She is still making false promises that she will not fulfill in the future.
And now it's over and done with,
The relationship is now over and finished.
She'll find someone new to have fun with!
She will soon find another person to entertain her.
Through all of my tears I could have told you so.
I am shedding tears now, but I could have warned you about the outcome of the relationship.
And now it's over and done with,
The relationship has come to a close.
She'll find someone new to have fun with!
She will soon find another partner to enjoy herself with.
Through all of my tears I could have told you so,
Despite my own emotional pain, I know that I could have warned you.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
hotbananas
Thanks for this , sadly this lovely lady is so underappreciated. Esther we love you.
Debra Garza
I grew up on this lovely ladies music Lord have mercy she's got so many more that are just as great listen to let me in your life on my God that'll tear you up
Therone Dawson
OMG, what a fantastic,fabulous and beautiful singer. She sings this song with so much soul. I am crying. She certain told me with this song.
706
Just did a show with the beatles like it was just another gig . She is the 🐐. Go mrs Esther
hotbananas
Still love you Esther , you will never be forgotten.
fabrici o
Esto es cantar, qué maravilloso canta! Increíble 😍
Eleonora Zichinolfi
in that time ,there were a lot of great singers,today of great singers are very few
Claudio Piscitelli
Dios mio,cuanta belleza lo podría escuchar 10000 veces por día
Tommy Bankston
I'm actually really, REALLY SHOCKED that NO ONE HAS COMMENTED ABOUT THIS SONG. This is exquisite, with so much emotion. "I Could Have Told You" was composed by the late Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by the late Carl Sigman. Esther Phillips rendition of this standard is sung with raw and smoldering brilliance. Thank you for posting one of my favorites.
Brent Dillahunty
Thank you for your wealth of information, much appreciated!