Rita Coolidge | 05/01/45 | 76

Rita Coolidge may have taken a step back from the spotlight, but she was all the rave during the 70s and 80s. Coolidge is an American singer and musician born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. After getting discovered in Memphis, Coolidge traveled to Los Angeles to start working as a backup singer for artists like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Stephen Stills. Coolidge also began writing songs for other artists but gained little to no credit for her work.

Some of her uncredited pieces include Superstar by The Carpenters and Layla by Derek and the Dominos. Then in 1973, the singer married fellow musician Kris Kristofferson, who became her duo and bandmate. As a musical duo, Kristofferson and Coolidge were able to bag two Grammy Awards for their songs Lover Please and The From the Bottle to the Bottom. From 1977 to 1978, Coolidge enjoyed massive success after four of her songs consecutively charted in Billboard’s Top 25.