Bettye Lavette - Amphitheater - Suwannee Spring Reunion - Live Oak, Fl 3- 22- 2024

Thank you Beth ! We were so lucky to have Bettye, who will be Joining The Rolling Stones as a guest artist on June 27 at Soldier Field in Chicago. And we quote " I've been waiting for them to call for 60 years. They finally found my number ! "
Bettye LaVette is a true legend with a musical career spanning more than 60 years, she is now rightly recognized as one of the finest vocalists and one of the great interpreters of song. Her discography spans five decades, but it is within the past decade that she has finally been recognized as one of America’s finest vocal talents.
Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the great soul interpreters of her generation”, Bettye LaVette is a vocalist who can take any type of song and make it completely her own. Bettye is one of very few of her contemporaries who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still creating vital recordings today. To quote the late, great George Jones: “Bettye is truly a ‘singer’s singer’.”
She was born Betty Jo Haskins on January 29,1946, in Muskegon, Michigan. Her family moved to Detroit when she was six years old. Her parents sold corn liquor and her living room was oft-times visited by The Soul Stirrers, The Blind Boys of Mississippi, and many other traveling gospel groups of the day. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Bettye did not get her start in the church, but in that very same living room, where there was a jukebox, filled with the blues, country & western, and R&B records of the time. The “5” Royales, Dinah Washington, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Red Foley, …these were her roots.
By 16, Betty Jo had become enamored with showbiz. She decided to change her name to something more dramatic. She knew a local groupie by the name of Sherma Lavett, liked the sound of the name, and thus, Bettye LaVette was born. Singer Timmy Shaw brought her to Johnnie Mae Matthews, a notorious Detroit record producer. Bettye’s first single was “My Man - He’s a Loving Man”, in the fall of 1962. The record was quickly picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. The record charted #7 R&B and put her on her first national tour, with Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter, and another newcomer, Otis Redding.
PS.....What a wonderful, beautiful festival and people we had to enjoy it with. So, in spite of some let downs we gottalotta what we hoped for and are, as ever, always Grateful to Randy & Beth Judy and all the staff and volunteers !
Also, we'd like to thank the following for their help with audio ( and it turned out to be lots )... Admiral Kirk, Peter, David Rogeaux, BB and many more.....
A LeVeLhEaDs Production by Mark "DaBabe" Roth & Richard Baumgarten...Not for Sale - Just Enjoy & Share !
For More Music Videos Please go to my You Tube Page - DaBabe44 & Richard Baumgarten's under his name