Etta James couldn’t make the Inauguration—and the ball where Beyoncé serenaded the newly minted First Couple with James’ signature song, “At Last”—because of complications from gastric bypass surgery that she underwent in 2003. The 70-year-old James watched the performance on TV while chatting on the phone with her son, who said, “She thought [the performance] was great. … She was a little down that she wasn’t well enough to be there.” [New York Daily News; HT Live With Regis & Kelly]
