Riverside, CA: Singer Etta James has been hospitalized with blood poisoning, her son said on Friday.

The 73 year-old blues legend was admitted to hospital in Riverside, California, earlier this week with a urinary tract infection and the blood infection sepsis, said her son Sametto James.

"It was a really bad infection," Sametto James said before adding, "Right now she's doing a lot better."

Etta James is a three-time Grammy winner whose songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy" made her a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her a master of the blues.

James, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, has struggled with obesity in the past. In 2003, she underwent gastric bypass surgery.