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Ritz Theatre
Bettye LaVette
Saturday, October 25, 2014 | 7pm
One of the greatest soul singers in American music history, Bettye LaVette’s expressive voice exudes a formidable level of strength and intensity. Born in Muskegon, Michigan on January 29, 1946, LaVette grew up primarily in Detroit. "Discovered" at the age of 16 by the legendary Motor City music raconteur Johnnie Mae Matthews, LaVette's first single was the swinging "My Man - He's a Loving Man." Recorded in the fall of 1962, the record was quickly picked up for national distribution.
LaVette next hit the charts with the Dee Dee Ford penned "Let Me Down Easy" in 1965. The starkly atmospheric record pitted the singer's emotionally-strained voice against a haunting string chart by future Stax arranger Dale Warren and biting lead guitar fills by Nathaniel Stokes. Bettye re-cut the song in 1969 and, to this day, "Let Me Down Easy" remains the feisty singer's theme song – serving as a climactic, gut wrenching showstopper for the iconic musician.
Over the next thirty years, LaVette cut a string of consistently solid hits including "He Made a Woman Out of Me" (later covered by Bobbie Gentry), the disco club hit "Doin' the Best That I Can", "Hey Love", written expressly for Bettye by Stevie Wonder, and covers of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's "What Condition My Condition Was In", the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends", Joe South's "Games People Play", Erma Franklin's "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart", Free's "The Stealer", Joe Simon's "It's Your Turn to Cry" (called "Your Time to Cry" when originally cut by Simon), Neil Young's "Heart of Gold", Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors", and Etta James' "Damn Your Eyes".
In 2012, LaVette celebrated her 50th year as a performer by releasing Thankful 'n' Thoughtful, covering songs by the Black Keys, Sly Stone, Tom Waits, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan, among others, and also issued her autobiography, A Woman Like Me.