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JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS

Bettye Lavette



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Bettye Lavette

Biography Discography Videos

WEB PAGES

BETTYE LAVETTE - �The Great Lady of Soul�BETTYE LAVETTE - The Great Lady of Soul!
Wikipedia: Bettye LavetteWikipedia: Bettye Lavette
The Rosebud Agency: Bettye LavetteThe Rosebud Agency: Bettye Lavette


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Kennedy Center Honors -- Bettye LaVette performs The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me"
Bettye left Pete and Roger in tears. Barbara was rocking to it too.
Bettye Lavette - Talking Old Soldiers
Bettye totally makes this song her own.


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A perennial cult favorite in Northern soul circles, singer Bettye LaVette was born in Muskegon, MI, on January 29, 1946. Raised primarily across the state in Detroit, at 16 she cut her first sides for the local Lupine label, with a test pressing of the disc making its way to Atlantic Records. After signing with Atlantic, she scored an R&B Top Ten hit out of the box with her debut single, "My Man � He's a Loving Man," only to fail to reach the same commercial heights again. After one more Atlantic release, 1963's "You'll Never Change," LaVette moved back to Lupine for her third record, "Witchcraft in the Air." After a stint as a featured vocalist with the Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford Revue, she recorded the long-unreleased "One Thin Dime" for Scepter before resurfacing on Calla with the 1965 lost classic "Let Me Down Easy," her only other record to crack the R&B Top 20. Two more Calla efforts � the fine "Only Your Love Can Save Me" and "I'm Just a Fool for You" � preceded a shift to Big Wheel, where after just one single, "I'm Holding On," LaVette again moved along, this time to the Karen imprint for "Hey Love."

Following stays at Silver Fox ("He Made a Woman Out of Me," "Do Your Duty"), SSS International ("Take Another Piece of My Heart"), and her own TCA imprint ("Never My Love"), LaVette returned to Atlantic, signing to their Atco division for 1972's Neil Young cover "Heart of Gold." An LP, Child of the Seventies, was also recorded at Muscle Shoals Studios, but Atco opted against its release after the failure of the single "Your Turn to Cry" (the album was reissued, complete with bonus tracks, in limited copies by Rhino in 2006). After joining the touring company of the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar, LaVette briefly signed to West End for a disco effort, 1978's "Doin' the Best I Can."

She did not record again until 1982, landing at Motown and rechristening herself "Bettye." However, despite a heavy promotional push, neither the LP Tell Me a Lie nor the single "Right in the Middle (Of Falling in Love)" proved her long-awaited chart breakthrough, and outside of a handful of recordings for Motor City during the 1990s, she focused primarily on live appearances in the years to follow. The 2000s found her in the recording studio more frequently with new albums A Woman Like Me being released by the Blues Express label in 2003 followed by I've Got My Own Hell to Raise in 2005 on the Anti label. In 2006, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, a collection of Silver Fox singles as well as other material, all of which had been recorded in Memphis between 1969 and 1970, came out on Var�se Sarabande. The Scene of the Crime appeared on Anti in 2007.

-- by Jason Ankeny of All Music Guide.
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LINKSYEARTITLE
1980Easier To Say Than Do
1980Tell Me A Lie
1991Nearer To You
2000Let Me Down Easy: In Concert (Live)
2003A Woman Like Me
2005I�ve Got My Own Hell To Raise
2006Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart
2007The Scene Of The Crime
2007I'm In Love
2009Change is Gonna Come


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1980 Easier To Say Than Do



1980 Tell Me A Lie

01. Right In The Middle(of falling in love)
02. Either Way We Love
03. Suspicions
04. You Seen One, You Seen 'Em All
05. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
06. Tell Me A Lie
07. I Like It Like That
08. Before I Even Knew Your Name
09. I Can't Stop
10. If I Were Your woman


1991 Nearer To You



2000 Let Me Down Easy: In Concert (Live)

01. My Man
02. Damn Your Eyes
03. Right In The Middle(of falling in love)
04. You'll Never Change
05. Almost
06. Your Turn To Cry
07. You Made A Woman Out Of Me
08. Let Me Down Easy


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2003 A Woman Like Me

01. Serves Him Right
02. The Forecast
03. Thru The winter
04. Right Next Door
05. When The Blues Catch Up To You
06. Thinking 'Bout You
07. A Woman Like Me
08. It Ain't Worth It After A While
09. When A Woman's Had Enough
10. Salt On My Wounds
11. Close As I'll Get To Heaven
12. Hey, Hey Baby(Bettye's blues)


2005 I've Got My Own Hell To Raise

01. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
02. Joy
03. Down To Zero
04. The High Road
05. On The Surface
06. Just Say So
07. Little Sparrow
08. How Am I Different
09. Only Time Will Tell Me
10. Sleep To Dream


2006 Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart

01. At The Mercy Of A Man
02. Do Your Duty
03. Easier To Say Than Do
04. Games People Play
05. He Made A Woman Out Of Me
06. I'm In Love
07. Hello Sunshine
08. Love Made A Fool Of Me
09. My Train's Coming In
10. Nearer To You
11. We Got To Slip Around
12. Piece Of My Heart
13. Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go



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2007 The Scene Of The Crime

01. I Still Want To Be Your Baby
02. Choices
03. Jealousy
04. You Don't Know Me At All
05. Somebody Pick Up My Pieces
06. They Call It Love
07. The Last Time
08. Talking Old Soldiers
09. Before The Money Came
10. I Guess We Shouldn't Talk About That Now


2007 I'm In Love

01. He Made A Woman Out Of Me
02. Do Your Duty
03. We Got To Slip Around
04. Piece Of My Heart
05. Easier To Say Than Do
06. My Train's Coming In
07. At The Mercy Of A Man
08. Let Me Down Easy
09. Games People Play
10. Nearer To You
11. Love's Made A Fool Of Me
12. I'm In Love


2009 Change is Gonna Come

01. Change Is Gonna Come
02. 'Round Midnight
03. God Bless the Child
04. Lush Life
05. Ain't No Sunshine
06. Ain't That Lovin' You Baby


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