In your opinion, best girl group ever?

[red dog 1]

58. I got to see Big Mama Thornton at the old Fillmore Auditorium back in the 1960s

Speaking of San Francisco's Fillmore district, I just found this about Etta James:

Etta James, born Jamesetta Hawkins, was born on Jan. 25, 1938 in Los Angeles to Dorothy Hawkins, who was 14 at the time.
Her mother was frequently absent from their apartment in Watts, and Jamesetta lived with a series of foster parents, most notably "Sarge" and "Mama" Lu.
In 1950 Mama Lu died, and James' biological mother took her to the Fillmore district of San Francisco.
Within a couple of years, she began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group,
the Creolettes (because of the members' light-skinned complexion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etta_James

(More from the Wikipedia article)
Johnny Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches..He also gave the singer her stage name, transposing Jamesstta to Etta James.
When her contract with Modern Records came up for renewal in 1960, she signed a contract with Chess Records instead.
Shortly afterwards, she was involved in a relationship with the singer Harvey Fuqua, the founder of the doo-wop group the Moonglows.

A fictional but excellent movie that features Beyonce Knowles as a young Etta James is called
"Cadillac Records"....It's based on the early years of Chess Records, with a very good script and excellent actors playing Chess Records' characters including Leonard Chess, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howling Wolf, Willie Dixon & Chuck Berry.
(If you haven't yet seen it, you might want to rent it on Netflix)