Dueling divas: Etta James 'can't stand' Beyonce

[February 06, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- We saw Beyonce play Etta James. We probably won't soon see the singing divas duet. The 71-year-old singer says in an audio clip that surfaced online Thursday that she would "whip" Beyonce for singing "her song" "At Last" at an inaugural ball for President Barack Obama.

"The great Beyonce ... I can't stand Beyonce," James said in the clip from a Jan. 31 concert at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam, British Columbia. "She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever."

Beyonce portrayed James -- and sang the 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren -- in the film "Cadillac Records" last year.

Representatives for James and Beyonce declined to comment.

[Associated Press]

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