Bettye LaVette at The Freight [Night 1]

Bettye LaVette's career began in Detroit at 16 years old with her first single My Man-He's A Lovin' Man (1962) on Atlantic Records. Throughout the '60s and '70s, she recorded for several major labels, but her real "breakthrough" was not until decades later. 

Since her resurgence in the 2000s, she's become a press darling (read her interviews with Vanity Fair and The New Yorker) and received the R&B Foundation's Pioneer Award, was inducted into both The Blues Hall Of Fame and The R&B Hall Of Fame, received the Americana Music Association's Legacy Award, and 7 Grammy nominations. 

Now in her 64th year in show business, she is one of very few of her peers who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still performing and creating vital recordings today. 

“One of the great soul interpreters of her generation.” – New York Times

“Is there any soul singer who brings more guts, more conviction and more emotion to her singing?” – NPR

According to Steve Jordan, who produced her last three albums: “When Bettye gets a hold of a song, it becomes her song. It’s like she wrote it. Bettye LaVette is like a combination of Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis."
Now, at 80 years old and in her 64th year in show business, she is one of very few of her peers who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still performing and creating vital recordings today. She is a shining example of what perseverance and determination can bring.