Festivall 2010: ; Make It Last; Hitting Her Stride After Nearly 50 Years in the Business,

Summary

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When you are a 65-year-old musician who has been slogging it out for 48 years, you get to tell it like it is. And heres what Bettye LaVette has to say about career highlights: Singing for President Barack Obamas inaugural celebration with Jon Bon Jovi, no less was pretty cool. On one level, it did the most for me (career-wise), she said. But it wasnt the thing I enjoyed doing the most. Her career highlight, says the blues, soul, gospel and even country singer who headlines Blues, Brews & BBQ Friday night, was her six-year stint in the Broadway hit Bubbling Brown Sugar, where she learned to tap dance alongside Cab Calloway. For me personally, that was one of the biggest things, said LaVette. Dont get her wrong the inaugural was memorable and her Website has a load of photos with famous people, the president included, to prove it. I was the only person on the show who was born during segregation, she said, recalling how touched she was to be standing at the feet of Abraham Lincoln, and standing at the foot of the first black president. Just being asked to perform at the inaugural was a big deal for a musician who by her own description has been flying somewhat under the radar for years. Just when she was about to give up and retire, she started earning new acclaim, first for 2005s Ive Got My Own Hell to Raise, then with 2007s The Scene of the Crime with the Drive-By Truckers and this years Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Those three projects alone demonstrate why LaVette has been hard to market her style is so eclectic. I wasnt noted for anything, she said. At 55, I remember asking my good friend (the late) Pervis Jackson of the Spinners, Tell me to quit. Just tell me to quit. He said, No, I cant do that, LaVette said. That was the way it was all the time. It wasnt the industry or my tenacity that kept me in the business it was all these people telling me, Dont quit. And the people that have done that kind of thing for me are kind of gobsmacked right now, she said, laughing. Her appearance at Fridays Blues, Brews & BBQ will highlight her new CD, LaVettes soulful interpretations of songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Animals, Pink Floyd and more. Her classic gravelly voice is perhaps in its best form ever, and LaVette still loves strutting her stuff on stage. She still wears high heels for every performance and says unabashedly, Im the only one of my contemporaries that can still fit into a size 6 I love that. Shes earned the right to brag a bit, for sure, and says if more musicians knew how hard a life the business could be, theyd keep their butts at home. When I look at any of the young people today, I just say to myself, Uh-huh make it last 50 years. You can easily count the ones of us who have been doing this for 50 years even the rich ones, like Aretha Franklin. So I think, Make it last 50 years and then I will be impressed. At 65, LaVette is suddenly traveling more than she expected. Shes just returned from a seven- country European tour. After a visit to Late Night with David Letterman on Wednesday, she was headed to Charleston. The business has given me virtually everything I ever wanted except money, LaVette said, laughing again. So Im going to work on that for a few days now. I worked on the talent. I worked on the networking. Now Im going to work on the money. And while the work is good, LaVette said she most likes to be home in New Jersey with her husband, musician Kevin Kiley, and their cats. When shes on the road, she doesnt like to visit the sites or explore the cities. I want the TV, some champagne and picture of my husband and the kitties, she said.

Bettye LaVettes newest release features her soulful interpretations of music by 1960s British Invasion artists like The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Animals.

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Festivall 2010: ; Make It Last; Hitting Her Stride After Nearly 50 Years in the Business,

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