Bettye LaVette: The Great Lady of Soul
It's been a long time coming, 1962-2012, but a combination of Bettye's confidence in her talent and the appreciation by her audiences during those years, has finally brought her to this place where we can celebrate a talent that, like fine wine, has improved with age.
At the heart of the Bettye LaVette story, whether sung as a song or narrated in a book, is the notion of creative survival. It is her voice that both announces and ensures that survival; it is her voice that, no matter how dire the circumstances, lets you know that she will not be denied. It is her voice that compels you to listen to every word she says, sings or writes. That voice - rough, tender, sensuous and soaring - is an instrument of inspiration.
"Like all voices," says Bettye, "mine has changed over the years. I'd like to think that the change has to do with wisdom. I'm far more selective about what songs I'll sing. If I can't re-sculpt them and, in many instances actually reinvent them to be part of my story, I can't make them come to life."
“This ranks among the greatest feel-good stories in recent memory, but the feel-good part accounts for a small fraction of the story that Bettye LaVette has to tell. Her book, co-authored with David Ritz (celebrated biographer of Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and many others) is an unflinching and uncompromising look at a life lived across the tracks from fame, where the brass ring was always within view but never within her grasp.
"I did think there would be a book", she says by phone from New Jersey, where she now lives. "But I always thought I'd be discovered after my death, and then somebody would write this great book about me." We are thankful she got around to it herself. No outsider could have begun to do this woman justice.
What you get in "A Woman Like Me" is LaVette raw and unfiltered. "At my age I'm not trying to make any kind of impression on anyone", she says. The singer, 66, clearly relishes her late-life breakthrough, and she has never stopped engaging the world with the enthusiasm of a teenager. She has an endearing salty streak, leading to statements like, "I know everybody in Detroit over 50. No matter how rich or poor they may be, I've seen 'em drunk or broke or nekkid; sometimes all three." Read More @ Detroit Free Press
Thankful N’ Thoughtful - Listen to Track Samples / Buy CD or LP
Bettye LaVette's nomination for "Best Female Contemporary Blues Artist 2013" is her 5th Blues Music Awards nomination.
Bettye won this category in 2010, and also in 2004 for "Best Comeback Blues Album" for her album "A Woman Like Me".
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Bettye and Jon Bon Jovi had the honor of performing Sam Cooke's revered anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come"
for the Inaugural Celebration "We Are One" at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, January 1 2009.
"The Kennedy Center Honors was the most exciting thing I have every done in my life, because there were so many of my favorite politicians there", says Grammy-nominated singer, Bettye LaVette. "And this year has been the greatest year of my life. Who would have ever imagined both Barack and I going to the White House?!" - I LOVE to hear this man's voice introducing me... :)
"Bettye LaVette proved to give the powerhouse performance of the evening at the Kennedy Center Honors when she sang her unparalleled version of "Love Reign O'er Me"as part of the Who tribute. The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl recently described his first encounter with Bettye's rendition of the song to Air America's Richard Greene: "We showed up for rehearsal, and one of the performers was rehearsing the song for the Who segment. It was a woman named Bettye LaVette… She is gonna steal the show. She was so phenomenal, this performance of The Who song that she did. It will bring you to tears. The room was pin-drop silent when she did this song, and it was just unbelievable."
Show-stealing Bettye LaVette wows fellow artists at the Kennedy Center Honors with her interpretation of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me". On his blog at TheWho.com, the legendary axe-slinger said, "My favorite moment was when Bettye LaVette sang a very fine version of 'Love Reign O'er Me' at the Gala and Barbra Streisand turned to ask me if I really wrote it!"
"A Woman Like Me" has been nominated in Living Blues Magazine Reader's Poll for "Best Book of 2012".
"Ms. LaVette’s bruised, caustic, adamant voice plunges into every line, coming through the songs as an unflinching survivor." - New York Times
Bettye LaVette’s hilarious and harrowing new autobiography, A Woman Like Me. Clearly, this isn’t a woman prone to holding back." - New York Daily News
Bettye LaVette is back with a new album and her long-awaited autobiography. You can buy signed-copies of both on here - and pick up a T-Shirt on the way.
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