Bettye LaVette

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 to this point she has remained criminally unknown. “Discovered” at the age of 16 by the legendary Motor City music raconteur Johnnie Mae Matthews, LaVette’s first single was the insouciantly swinging “My Man—He’s a Loving Man.” Recorded in 1962, the record was quickly picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. The net result was a Top 10 R&B hit that just missed the pop Hot 100 and would be eventually covered by both Tina Turner and Ann Peebles. Over the next three-plus decades LaVette cut a string of consistently strong singles. Among her more notable recordings were the sultry Top 30 chart entry “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. Bettye has always preferred to fulfill the role of a song interpreter, “I’m a better editor,” insists the diminutive singer. “If you make a statement, I can make it a stronger statement. And, if you write a story, I can make it a stronger story.”