RIVERSIDE, California (AP) — Blues singer Etta James is in a Southern California hospital with a potentially deadly infection.

Her son, Sametto James, tells the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his mother was admitted to an undisclosed hospital earlier this week for treatment of sepsis caused by a urinary tract infection.

Sepsis is a potentially deadly blood poisoning caused by a bacterial infection.

The 73-year-old James lives in Woodcrest and was hospitalized for the same problem early last year. She suffers from dementia, leukemia, kidney problems and other ailments.

James is best known for her version of the song “At Last.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.