Bettye LaVette

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #137 (August/September 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Bettye LaVette

Steadfast Soul

by Ed Silverman

Bettye LaVette has won her battle.

Her recent albums have won accolades. She has been honored by the Blues Foundation. And she is in demand as a live performer. Although her name may not have entered the pop-culture lexicon, she is widely cited as living proof of the emotional power and endurance of the vaunted soul sound that was so popular more than a generation ago.

"How do I feel about all this? Relieved," said LaVette, who is now 62 years old and in the midst of a revival that easily eclipses the on-again, off-again visibility she experienced at various points during the 1960s. "Before, I was frightened and stressed and thinking I was going to die in oblivion, completely broke."

Such confessions seem hard to imagine from a singer with an international profile and a growing fan base, but LaVette actually endured years of struggle to reach this point. Although she hailed from Detroit and knew many other youngsters who would soon become household names during the years when Motown reigned on the radio -- can you say David Ruffin? -- LaVette rarely caught the proverbial lucky break.

"When I was growing up in Detroit, all you had to do was walk out on the street and say 'la la la,' and you were off. The streets were filled with people who were singing," said LaVette, a trim and gracious woman with a no-nonsense demeanor, during a recent conversation from her home in West Orange, New Jersey, which is about a half an hour from Manhattan.

[cover #137]