Priscilla Coolidge (April 20, 1941 – October 2, 2014) was an American recording artist and sister of singer

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

Life and career

Coolidge was born in

Lafayette, Tennessee Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Macon County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,474 at the 2010 census, and had 5,584 in 2020.Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artis ...

, who produced Coolidge's first solo album, 1970's ''Gypsy Queen''. Then the pair collaborated as a duo on three albums: 1971's ''Booker T. & Priscilla''; 1972's ''Home Grown''; and 1973's ''Chronicles'', which included the song "Time", written by her sister Rita, which was allegedly "borrowed" by drummer Jim Gordon (formerly of

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

's band

Derek and the Dominos Derek and the Dominos was an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by singer-guitarist Eric Clapton, keyboardist-singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previously playe ...

and Rita's former boyfriend) and became the famous instrumental coda at the end of "

Layla "Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, '' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' (1970). Its contrasting movemen ...

". Jones produced Priscilla's final solo album, ''Flying'', in 1979; their marriage ended that year. In 1981 Coolidge married

Ed Bradley Edward Rudolph Bradley Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American broadcast journalist and news anchor who is best known for reporting with ''60 Minutes'' and CBS News. After graduating from Cheyney State College, Bradley bec ...

, a journalist, broadcaster, and reporter. Her marriage to Bradley ended in divorce, and she later married Michael Seibert.

Walela

In 1997, Coolidge was one of the founding members of

Walela Walela is a trio of singers, named for the Cherokee word for ''hummingbird.'' The group was founded in 1996 by sisters Rita Coolidge and Priscilla Coolidge, with Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield as the third member. Biography Featured as p ...

, a

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

-inspired music trio, that also included Coolidge's sister Rita, plus Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield. The trio released studio albums in 1997 (''Walela'') and 2000 (''Unbearable Love''), a live album and DVD (''Live in Concert'') in 2004 and a compilation album (''The Best of Walela'') in 2007. Walela means

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

. Coolidge considered this group important not only in honoring her ancestors, who she believes were of

Cherokee descent Individuals with some degree of documented Cherokee descent who do not meet the criteria for Cherokee tribal citizenship may describe themselves as "being of Cherokee descent" or as "being a Cherokee descendant". These terms are also used by non-Na ...

, but also in bringing their culture to others. The Coolidge family is not enrolled in any Native American tribe, nor is there evidence of a direct ancestor listed on the

Dawes Rolls The Dawes Rolls (or Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, or Dawes Commission of Final Rolls) were created by the United States Dawes Commission. The commission was authorized by United States Congress in 1893 to exe ...

. Her sister Rita has said that their great-aunt was on the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

, but has also said that she "did a lot of research" but that "we were not able to get the documents to prove that our ancestors were on the Trail".

Death

Coolidge and her husband, Michael Seibert, were found dead in their home in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

, in what police later described as a murder-suicide. On October 2, 2014, police were called after neighbors heard the couple engaged in a heated argument. Seibert shot Priscilla in the head, and soon after killed himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Priscilla 1941 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers American people of Scottish descent Deaths by firearm in California People from Lafayette, Tennessee Singers from Tennessee American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent