When Cynthia Erivo hit the Royal Albert Hall stage with the BBC Concert Orchestra, she created a magical rendition of Etta James’ signature hit “At Last.” It’s the kind of song singers dread to cover because it’s so hard to deliver the right dynamics and tone, but Erivo hit all the right notes with a nuanced performance that had a buttery smooth tone. You can tell that she really loves singing the song, which gave the performance a feelgood vibe that took it to the next level.
Aside from the gorgeous vocals, “At Last” is distinguished by its beautiful orchestration, and it’s rarely been done better than what the BBC Concert Orchestra delivered on the night. It’s the kind of performance that just makes you want to hit repeat, which is maybe why it’s one of the most popular covers of the song on YouTube, with 3.3 million views and counting. At this point, The Music Man is convinced that Erivo can sing absolutely anything, and this is surely one of her most memorable performances.
Erivo performed her “At Last” cover at Legendary Voices at the Proms on August 27, 2022. Erivo won over James fans with her cover, who left comments such as “I’m a hardcore Etta fan and I rarely applaud covers, but I got CHILLS listening to this gorgeous voice. What a talent!” and “Finally, someone who didn’t oversing this beautiful song! No one sings it like Etta, but Erivo brilliantly kept the purity of the original masterpiece. She showed respect for the song and Etta.”
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Erivo’s 90-minute set at Legendary Voices at the Proms was a celebration of the finest American female vocalists of the ‘50s and ‘60s. It produced a number of popular performances on YouTube, with another excellent cut being her cover of “I (Who Have Nothing),” which was memorably recorded by Shirley Bassey in 1963. “I (Who Have Nothing)” has a more sombre tone but still features plenty of amazing vocals, such as Erivo’s a cappella section shortly after the two-minute mark.
Mack Gordon and Harry Warren wrote “At Last” for the 1941 musical film Sun Valley Serenade. Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded the first version of the song for the film, although only an instrumental version made it to the final cut. Miller and his orchestra subsequently re-recorded the song in 1942 and scored a US number two hit with this version, which featured vocals. James recorded her version of “At Last” in 1961, and her take on the single peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that despite James’ version of the song only being a minor hit at first, it subsequently became an oldies radio favorite and made the song a jazz standard.