Three time Grammy nominee Bettye LaVette was born Betty Jo Haskin on January 29th 1946 in Muskegon, Michigan. Bettye is an interpreter of the highest order. Whether the song originated as country, rock, pop, or blues, when she is through with it, it’s pure R&B. She gets inside a song and shapes and twists it to convey all of the emotion that can be wrought from the lyric.
Three time Grammy nominee Bettye LaVette was born Betty Jo Haskin on January 29th 1946 in Muskegon, Michigan. Bettye is an interpreter of the highest order. Whether the song originated as country, rock, pop, or blues, when she is through with it, it’s pure R&B. She gets inside a song and shapes and twists it to convey all of the emotion that can be wrought from the lyric.
In 1962, at age 16, she became Bettye LaVette. Her first single was “My Man – He’s a Loving Man” on Atlantic Records.
She worked alongside Charles “Honi” Coles, and Cab Calloway in the Toni Award winning Broadway musical, “Bubbling Brown Sugar” in the role of Sweet Georgia Brown
Her CD, A Woman Like Me won the W.C. Handy Award in 2004 for “Comeback Blues Album of the Year”. She was also given a prestigous Pioneer Award by The Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
She has received the Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Female Blues Singer. She performed a critically acclaimed version of “Love Reign O’er Me” at The Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to The Who. The producers had her perform “A Change Is Gonna Come” with Jon Bon Jovi for president elect Barack Obama on HBO’s telecast of the kick-off Inaugural Celebratory concert, We Are One.
In 2012 she released her autobiography, A Woman Like Me, co-written with David Ritz.
In 2015 she worked with producer Joe Henry again on her CD, “Worthy”, which has received her third Grammy nomination. She also received the Blues Music Award for Best Soul Blues Female Artist.
In 2018, her latest album “Things Have Changed” was released via Verve / Universal. Met with critical acclaim, “Things Have Changed” features a variety of remarkable and fresh adaptations of songs by Bob Dylan.
She is one of very few of her contemporaries who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 60s and is still creating vital recordings today.
