A teenaged Esther Phillips first climbed the charts as Little Esther in the early '50s with a string of singles surfing the blues, boogie-woogie and R&B. She stepped in and out of the limelight in the '60s, '70s and '80s, while delivering acclaimed records like 1975's What a Difference a Day Makes. With a distinctive nasal tone that added colour and character to all her songs, she lent her talent blues, soul and R&B numbers—not to mention jazz, country and disco-tinged tracks, funk nuggets and bossa nova moments. A star that left us too early continues to burn brightly, right here.