Etta James and the Roots Band w/ Deborah Cox

It was William Congreve who first said, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” but Beyonce Knowles might better know what that scorn feels like. Knowles felt the wrath of R&B veteran Etta James after performing James’ 1961 hit “At Last” at President Obama’s January inauguration ceremony. James Etta James made reference to the president as “the one with the big ears,” and went on to threaten Beyonce (who portrayed James in the biopic Cadillac Records), saying “she’s going to get her ass whooped,” and fuming, “she has no business up there … singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.” Though Glenn Miller and Nat King Cole recorded it before her, James does have some claim to the song, having performed it for half a century as her signature ballad. If nothing else, though, the squabble proved that at 71, James still has some fight in her.