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Bettye LaVette

Bettye LaVette is one of the greatest soul singers in American music history, possessed of an incredibly expressive voice that one moment will exude a formidable level of strength and intensity and the next will appear vulnerable, reflective, reeking of heartbreak. Although LaVette has been recording for over four decades, up to this point she has remained relatively unknown.

Born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1946, LaVette grew up in Detroit. Despite the palpable level of emotion and fire breathing intensity that permeates the essence of her vocal art, LaVette is one of the very few soul singers who did not get her start singing in the church. “Discovered” at the age of 16 by the legendary Motor City music raconteur Johnnie Mae Matthews, LaVette’s first single was the insouciantly swinging “My Man--He’s a Loving Man.” Recorded initially for Northern in the fall of 1962, the record was quickly picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. The net result was a Top 10 R&B hit that just missed the pop Hot 100 and would be eventually covered by both Tina Turner and Ann Peebles.

LaVette next hit the charts with the Dee Dee Ford penned “Let Me Down Easy” in early 1965. She rerecorded the song in 1969 for the Karen label and to this day “Let Me Down Easy” remains the singer’s theme song, serving as a climactic, gut wrenching showstopper night after night on her incendiary gigs.

Over the next three-plus decades LaVette cut a string of consistently strong singles for Big Wheel, Silver Fox, SSS, TCA, Atco, Epic, West End, Motown and Bar/None. Among her more notable recordings were the sultry Top 30 chart entry “He Made a Woman Out of Me,” “Doin’ the Best That I Can,” and “Hey Love,” written expressly for Bettye by Stevie Wonder. She went on to do soul covers of “What Condition My Condition Was In,” “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Games People Play,” “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart,” “The Stealer,” “It’s Your Turn to Cry” “Heart of Gold,” “Behind Closed Doors,” and “Damn Your Eyes.”

As the above list of covers makes manifest, Bettye has always had big ears and a wide open mind, preferring to fulfill the role of a song interpreter, rather than attempt to write her own material. “I’m a better editor,” insists the diminutive singer. “If you make a statement, I can make it a stronger statement. And, if you write a story, I can make it a stronger story. But, I rarely think of a story I ever want to write myself.”

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Album Review

Bettye LaVette: Blackbirds

Read "Blackbirds" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Com'è accaduto a Sharon Jones anche Bettye Lavette ha incontrato il successo in età matura--o nel suo caso avanzata--ottenendo quei riconoscimenti che non ebbe negli anni d'oro della soul music. È stato l'album del 2003 A Woman Like Me, quando aveva già 57 anni, a darle quel successo che attendeva da tempo, aprendole un percorso ricco di soddisfazioni. Con una scelta personale, Bettye non s'è collocata nel filone neo soul o degli Oldies but Goldies del repertorio ...

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Radio & Podcasts

2020's Travel Songs - Part 2

Read "2020's Travel Songs - Part 2" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


The second part of the mixtape is devoted to the best songs that in 2020 helped us travel across the walls that confined us. Click here to listen to the first part of the mixtape. Happy listening! Playlist Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven “Me and the Devil" We're New Again -A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven (XL Recordings) 46:28 Irreversible Entanglements “No Más" Who Sent You? (International Anthem) 4:47 Cosmic Vibrations feat. Dwight Trible “How Long" Pathways ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Romance in the Dark - Celebrating Bettye LaVette's Latest Release

Read "Romance in the Dark - Celebrating Bettye LaVette's Latest Release" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


Included are new releases from Bettye LaVette (pictured), Champian Fulton, Nubya Garcia, The Moore-McColl Jazz Society and Kenny Washington plus singles from Emilie-Claire Barlow & Bocana and Sue Maskaleris with more birthday shoutouts to Charlie Parker (100!), Hilary Gardner, Naomi Moon Siegel, Russ Kassoff, Jimmy Rowles and more. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of lockdown. Playlist Champian Fulton “Quasimodo" from Birdsong (Self released) 00:00 Giacomo Gates ...

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Album Review

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

Read "Things Have Changed" reviewed by Doug Collette


Bettye LaVette's Things Have Changed isn't merely a homage to Bob Dylan, it is also a remarkable combination of invention and polish, as arresting in production, arrangement and playing as in the novel choice of songs. The venerable r&b/soul vocalist collaborates with an esteemed roster of musicians, overseen by producer/drummer Steve Jordan (Keith Richards, Boz Scaggs), all of whom sound as inspired by each other as by the range of the Nobel Laureate's compositions, spanning over forty years. The remarkable ...

Album Review

Bettye LaVette: Worthy

Read "Worthy" reviewed by Enrico Bettinello


Leonessa che non si stanca di ruggire (carriera ormai cinquantennale, tra sparizioni e riscoperte), Bettye LaVette si affida nuovamente alla illuminata produzione di Joe Henry per questo disco in cui personalizza in modo convincente un canzoniere molto vario. Si apre con “Unbelievable," canzone di un tardo Bob Dylan che, immersa in una marinatura pigramente funk, è certamente assai meglio dell'originale. E si procede di conseguenza, con la voce sabbiata e matura della LaVette a accarezzare “Bless Us ...

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Album Review

Bettye LaVette: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Read "Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Cross Nina Simone with Tina Turner and you get Bettye LaVette. Finally receiving the attention she deserves, LaVette finds herself on a most receptive world stage. LaVette appeared at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, in tribute to The Who's Peter Townsend and Roger Daltrey, singing “Love Reign O'er Me," from Quadrophenia (Polydor, 1979). Video of the performance shows a stunned and humble Townsend and Daltrey, hearing their iconic song sung by an icon. Interpretations is a bold and are breathtaking ...

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Extended Analysis

Bettye Lavette: Interpretations - The British Rock Songbook

Read "Bettye Lavette: Interpretations - The British Rock Songbook" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


Bettye Lavette Interpretations: The British Rock SongbookAnti- Records2010

Perennial also-ran Bettye Lavette, among the many very good 1960s Detroit soul singers not signed to Motown--others include Barbara Lewis, Deon Jackson and Edwin Starr--offers a concept album of sorts. An interesting concept, too: R&B covers of classic British rock hits, from roughly the mid-1960s to the early 1970s (Led Zeppelin's “All My Love," from 1979, is an outlier in temporal terms).There ...

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Performance / Tour

Bettye Lavette Returns To Café Carlyle With All New Show & A New CD, January 27-February 7

Bettye Lavette Returns To Café Carlyle With All New Show & A New CD, January 27-February 7

Source: Matt Gross

Café Carlyle is pleased to welcome back iconic R&B songstress Bettye LaVette for a two- week engagement, January 27–February 7, where she will showcase her inimitable style, gut wrenching vocals and songs from throughout her five decade career, as well as the world premiere of selections from her new album, Worthy. The album, which Cherry Red releases on January 27, features Bettye’s reflective, visceral interpretations of classic tracks by Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones amongst others. Performances ...

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Performance / Tour

Bettye Lavette: Tour Dates and Change is Gonna Come Sessions

Bettye Lavette: Tour Dates and Change is Gonna Come Sessions

Source: JamBase

Iconic American Soul Singer-Songwriter Bettye LaVette's A Change Is Gonna Come Sessions Now Available On Digital Services

Bettye LaVette Venerated soul songstress Bettye+LaVette" target=_blank><b>Bettye LaVette</b>'s triumphant new six-song EP A Change Is Gonna Come Sessions, previously an iTunes exclusive is now available from all digital services. 2009 has been a year of much deserved acclaim for LaVette. There was a night at the Kennedy Center Honors where her heartrending interpretation of The Who's “Love Reign O'er Me" left ...

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Video / DVD

Bettye Lavette Video/Tour

Bettye Lavette Video/Tour

Source: All About Jazz

HARD BLUES AND SOUL QUEEN TACKLES ELTON JOHN AND BERNIE TAUPIN

“Living proof that classic soul is as durable a style as any brand of American music." - New York Times

“LaVette sings as if she's been backed into a corner and relishes the sensation." - Village Voice

Bettye LaVette, the 45-plus-year veteran of American soul music, has filmed a new video for her poignant re-interpretation of the Elton John classic “Talking Old Soldiers," a somber gem from ...

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