|
contents | blues | |||||||||||||
| Bettye LaVette at Harper Acclaimed soul, R&B and blues vocalist Bettye LaVette, who has been called "a soul diva in the grandest sense of the term, " will perform Saturday, October 14 in the Performing Arts Center, Harper College, Roselle and Algonquin Roads, Palatine. A headliner at the 2006 Chicago Blues Festival, critics described LaVette: "She completely inhabits everything she sings-her riveting performances all force you to feel pain and joy along with her." "LaVette's voice occupies the space right between Aretha Franklin's voice and Etta James' voice, " said another. Yet many are unfamiliar with Detroit native LaVette, who cut her first single when she a 16-year-old in 1962 called "My Man He's a Loving Man." She had another hit, one she calls her "mantra, " "Let Me Down Easy" in 1965, and then fell into relative obscurity although she recorded with the likes of Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding and James Brown. LaVette's 2005 release I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, has garnered rave reviews for her "fierce and knowing transformations" of covers by women songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Aimee Mann, Joan Aramtrading, Dolly Parton, Sinead O'Connor, Fiona Apple and Rosanne Cash. "The reason I was able to adapt to these newer songs so readily is because I've had to adapt to whatever the situation was over the last 43 years, " says LaVette. The CD was named consistently as one of the tops for 2005 by many national publications, including Entertainment Weekly and The New Yorker. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |