Express Yourself! Features
By Ralph McKnight
When I first heard the voice of Bettye LaVette, I was lying on my mother's couch
listening to the radio. The soulful female voice I heard jolted me and I fell off the
couch which caused my mom to rush into the living room to see what had happened.
"Did you hear that?" she said. "That was me...I fell off the couch", I mumbled. "Listen
to this girl sing!" It was, of course Bettye singing "You Killed the Love". I got up,
rushed downtown and purchased the record. "You Killed the Love" was a soulful
ballad on which LaVette sounded far older than her young teen years. She tore into
the song with strong, knowing conviction and just about knocked me out. The flip
side was "Witchcraft in the Air", a catchy dance tune with Bettye proving that she
could wail with the best of them.
Bettye is not new, but she is certainly not old. If her birthdate wasn't a matter of
public record, she could pass for a much younger woman. Recording for years, she
has recorded for Atlantic, Epic, Calla, Motown and various other labels.
Her first tour after her record debut ("My Man, He's A Lovin' Man") was with Clyde
McPhatter, Ben E. King, Barbara Lynn and Otis Redding. She later toured with the
James Brown Revue.
"Let Me Down Easy" was the next time I heard her. This record convinced me that
LaVette was a vocalist that must be added to my "serious singers list". Aretha
Franklin, Etta James, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke were already on that list. And
now there was Bettye LaVette.
The first time I got to see her in person was at Small's Paradise in New York. She was
dynamite and was much more than I had expected. Little did I know that years later,
not only would I get the opportunity to meet Bettye, but to become friends with her
as well. I had followed her career from her days with Otis Redding to her disco years
("Doin' the Best that I Can" "Trance Dance") through her Broadway debut in
"Bubbling Brown Sugar" co-starring Cab Calloway.
In the early '70s, there was a city-wide singing contest in New York. Thousands of
singers thundered in from all over the country to compete. After the storm clouds
passed , there were two winners, yes, Bettye LaVette and future Broadway star, Carl
Hall. At the suggestion of Kenny Rogers, who had patterned his version of "What
Condition My Condition is In" after LaVette's, she was recommended to his brother,
Lelan, owner of Silver Fox Records. There, Bettye recorded the provocative, "He
Made a Woman Out of Me" which sold well. It is not well known, but fellow Detroiter,
Stevie Wonder wrote "Hey, Love" especially for Bettye who has continuously
recorded for 30 plus years.
During the 1980s, Motown finally called. LaVette recorded the "Tell Me a Lie" album
and appeared on Soul Train to promote the hit single "Right in the Middle of Fallin in
Love" and its follow-up, "I Can't Stop".
In 1999, I was introduced to her by a mutual friend, David Freeland, when Bettye and
Maxine Brown were featured in concert in New York at Columbia University. I asked
Bettye if I could videotape her performance and was granted permission. It was a
memorable night. The ladies played to a packed house, many of them students at
Columbia who had never heard the two stars. With the thunderous standing
ovations they received, I'm positive that new fans were converted that evening.
Now, Bettye is being "rediscovered". She has several CDs in record stores all over
the world, most notibly an Atlantic album she recorded in the '70s which was never
issued. It was recently released by a French record company. It's called "Souvenirs"
(wait until you hear the title tune). The new one is a "live" recording of a concert she
did in Holland in 1999. That, too, was filmed by professional videographers (let's
hope they release that one, too!) That CD is called "Let Me Down Easy" In Concert
and features LaVette's soulful approaches to "Damn Your Eyes" and a new version
of her old hit, "Almost" among others.
Next year, I hope the world gets to see and hear this great talent for she will be
appearing at blues and jazz festivals and nightclubs here in the U.S.A. and in
Europe. Her onstage performance is energetic and she works as hard as Tina
Turner, who covered Bettye's first hit, "My Man", as did Ann Peebles and Bettye
Swann. LaVette has got tremendous soul and will take a backseat to no other singer.
I remember seeing her on tv once singing a duet with the late Joe Tex. "Show Me"
was the song, one of Joe's hits. After he opened, Bettye came in with tremendous
force causing Joe to break up as if to say, "Bettye, don't be sooooooo mean!!!" She
wrecked.
There was a time when a soul singer stepped before the mike, you knew something
special was going to happen. Not today. Today's "singers" don't seem to have that
magic. With Bettye LaVette, the 'magic' still exists. Slim, youthful and looking
marvellous, she gives audiences what they've paid to see, a great show.
You can write to Ralph at: algernon4@earthlink.net
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