"You've got a singer here who is willing
to
stretch and is not content to live in the safety zone." - Elvis Costello
Bettye LaVette's latest CD, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook debuted in the top 60 of Billboard Top 200 in it's first week of release! She also debuted at #5 on the Indie releases chart and #1 on Billboard's Blues chart!…read more >>
2011 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Contemporary Blues Album
2012 Blues Music Awards Nominee for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year (Bettye won this award in 2008)
Interpretations - The British Rock Songbook Bettye's latest CD features songs composed by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd among others.
Featuring on John Lennon Tribute album The 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute, Live From the Beacon Theatre NYC to benefit Red Cross' tsunami relief efforts, released November 15, 2011.
2011 saw Bettye recognized in the 59th DownBeat Critics Poll in the Blues Artist category and Beyond Artist category.
2011 - honored by fans in the DownBeat magazine Readers Poll in two categories - among the top Best Blues Artists (second year in a row) and among the Best Beyond Albums for her album Interpretations - The British Rock Songbook.
2011 B. B. King International Artist of the Year Award Nominee in The Toronto Blues Society's 15th Maple Blues Awards program. Bettye’s third nomination for the award (previously 2006 & 2007).
2011 Living Blues Awards Nominee for Blues Artist of the Year (Female)
"The showstopper was... Bettye LaVette, reveling in her first chance to perform her 1965 hit (on the Calla label), "Let Me Down Easy," with a live orchestra. In rasping, wrenching, moaning phrases, she was pure triumphant desolation, drawing a standing ovation." - Jon Pareles, New York Times, June 15, 2011, Review: Motown Meets NYC with the New York Pops orchestra
"LaVette's gig at the Old Town School of Folk Music was the stuff of legends while her 'Interpretations' re-imagined music that we felt we knew by heart in unexpected and exciting new ways. In an age where the word "diva" is often used freely, LaVette makes Aretha, Patti, Gladys, Chaka and, yes, even Tina sound lightweight." - Windy City Times, January 5, 2011
Featured in The New Yorker (January 15, 2011) regarding her standout performance of "Love Reign O'er Me," honoring The Who at Kennedy Center Honors: "Standing in a circle of light, LaVette began in a confiding tone, and ended in a raspy, full-throated cry. The gestures she made - rolling her hands as if to gather momentum, letting her shoulders go slack in submission, slapping her hip as if to urge herself on, and raising her hands above her head to plead - were arresting, and her performance seemed startlingly authentic. Throughout, Daltrey and Townshend, and Streisand, seated beside them, nodded and shook their heads, as if listening to a galvanizing preacher. When LaVette finished, Streisand turned to Townshend and said, "Fantastic!" Later, she asked if he had really written the song."
"Ms. LaVette now rivals Aretha Franklin as her generation's most vital soul singer." - The New York Times, May 20, 2010
Appearances in 2010 alone on NBC's Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Austin City Limits, Good Morning America, Tavis Smiley and Lopez Tonight.
Bettye was chosen to support Robert Plant on select dates of his 2010 US Summer Tour. "It would have been nice to see Plant try to keep up with 64-year-old opener Bettye LaVette, the soul survivor who turned George Harrison's Isn't It a Pity and the Who's Love, Reign O'er Me into pained, personal rafter rattlers. If folks didn't know LaVette before this night, they sure do now. She was small but mighty, making the show unforgettable before the hirsute headliner even took the stage." - St. Petersburg Times
Bettye returned to Carnegie Hall in February 2011 as a featured performer at the tribute event, The Music of Neil Young at Carnegie Hall. This was her third performance at the legendary hall, having previously been featured in benefits including tributes to Joni Mitchell (2006) and The Who (2010).
Honored with Heroes And Legends (HAL) Achievement in Music Award (September 2010)
Featured guest on Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor in February 2010. Bettye performed live from the Fox Theatre in Detroit along with Soul Legend "Sir" Mack Rice and Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele.
Nominated for a 2010 Blues Music Award (Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year), a category she won in 2008. In 2004 she won for Comeback Blues Album of the Year for her CD, A Woman Like Me.
Featured on Live From The Artists Den episode broadcast on PBS, August 19, 2010, backed by The Drive-By Truckers (who played on Bettye's GRAMMY Nominated album, The Scene of the Crime).
Voted one of the Best Blues Artists of 2010 per Downbeat magazine's Readers Poll. In 2009, Bettye was named one of the top ten Blues Artists of the year in the magazine's Critics Poll.
On CNN.com, Peter Grumbine (Current.com) praises Bettye, stating that of "living singers who are actively releasing music now, there is no one more soulful than Bettye LaVette." (July 2009)
Performance with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall in New York for David Lynch Foundation's Transcendental Meditation Benefit, April 2009.
Performed at The Obama Inaugural Celebration at The Lincoln Memorial in a duet with Jon Bon Jovi (broadcast on HBO, January 2009).
2008 Grammy Nominee for The Scene of the Crime
Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award Honoree - 2006
Recent Festival appearances include: Montreux Jazz Festival; Fuji Rock Festival (Japan); Newport Folk Festival; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; Bonnaroo; North Sea Jazz Festival; Monterey Jazz Festival; BBC Cambridge Folk Festival; WOMAD (Spain); Jazzablanca (Casablanca, Morocco); Outside Lands Festival (San Francisco); Bumbershoot (Seattle); Bridgestone Music Festival (Sao Paulo, Brazil); Chicago Blues Festival; Rothbury Festival (MI); Vancouver Folk Music Festival; Montreal Jazz Festival, and many, many more.
Bettye LaVette & Ben Folds at David Lynch Fundraiser
Austin City Limits Bettye LaVette / Pinetop Perkins: watch full episode at pbs.org >>
