"You've got a singer here who is willing to stretch and is not content to live in the safety zone." - Elvis Costello
Who is Bettye LaVette you ask? The simple answer is Ms. 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. Unfortunately, it says much about the vagaries of the popular music industry that, although LaVette has been recording for over four decades, up until recent years she has remained criminally unknown.
Performed at The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial (broadcast on HBO) in duet with Jon Bon Jovi - 2009
Standout Performance of 'Love Reign O'er Me' honoring The Who at Kennedy Center Honors (broadcast on CBS December, 2008)
Appearances on David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
Performance with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall in New York for David Lynch Foundation's Transcendental Meditation Benefit
Digital EP A Change is Gonna Come Sessions Released June 16, 2009 exclusively on iTunes via Anti Records
2008 Grammy Nominee
Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award Honoree - 2006
CNN states that of the "living singers who are actively releasing music now, there is no one more soulful than Bettye LaVette." - July, 2009
