Bettye LaVette

Though Bettye (then Betty) LaVette was part of the original wave of soul music, her comeback fame in the 2000s far outstripped her original popularity. Indeed, the hard career luck that she overcame became part of her mystique as a survivor. Born in Muskegon, Michigan and raised in Detroit, she was signed to the local Lupine label at age 16 and saw some R&B chart success with her 1966 debut single, "My Man-He's a Lovin' Man," which was licensed by Atlantic. She then toured with the label's soul heavyweights Clyde McPhatter, Ben E. King and new signee Otis Redding. However further singles didn't match the success of the debut and after setting her up to record at the famed Muscle Shoals studio, Atlantic shelved the album. Her 2012 biography A Woman Like Me reveals personal struggles around this time, including a pregnancy at age 14 and an abusive boyfriend who dangled her from a 20-story building. It took another decade before she released an album, Tell Me a Lie, the product of a shirt-lived stint with Motown. This also failed to chart, as did an aptly titled disco single "Doin' the Best I Can," in 1978. Finally she took a role in a touring version of the Broadway jazz musical Bubbling Brown Sugar, where she appeared for six years. Her comeback (or arrival) as a recording artist came with the blues-oriented 20003 album A Woman Like Me, which prompted her critical rediscovery. However it was the 2005 album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise that made her popular breakthrough. Released by the rock-oriented Anti- label and devoted to the songs of rock-friendly female artists (Sinead O'Connor, Lucinda Williams, Aimee Mann), the album simultaneously established LaVette as a feminist icon, crossover artist and soul survivor. The followup, Scene of the Crime went a step further by pairing her with the Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, who maintained a slow-burning, Stax/Volt groove throughout. By now she was becoming known for the intensity of her live shows, particularly after two televised performances: The Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 (where she sang "Love Reign O'er Me" in tribute to honorees the Who) and Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009. Her pre-comeback recordings also saw light of day, including the Muscle Shoals album Child of the Seventies. Following the success of the televised Who cover she did a full album, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, which included that song along with mostly-ballad tracks by Led Zeppelin, Elton John and others. She continued to steal shows at variety events, including the 2017 music film The American Epic Sessions and a tribute show for Aretha Franklin at Carnegie Hall that year. She turned her attention to Bob Dylan on the 2018 album Things Have Changed, continuing her career renaissance at age 72.