Rock Trezor: BONNIE RAITT

BONNIE RAITT – STORY

Bonnie Raitt was born 8 November 1949, Burbank, California, USA. She was born into a musical family; her father, John Raitt, starred in Broadway productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel. Having learned guitar as a child, Bonnie became infatuated with traditional blues, although her talent for performing did not fully flourish until she attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Raitt initially opened for John Hammond, before establishing her reputation with countless live appearances throughout the East Coast circuit, on which she was accompanied by longtime bassist Dan 'Freebo' Friedberg. Raitt then acquired the management services of Dick Waterman, who guided the career of many of the singer's mentors, including Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace. She often travelled and appeared with these performers, and BONNIE RAITT

contained material drawn from their considerable lexicon. Chicago bluesmen Junior Wells and A.C. Reed also appeared on the album, but its somewhat reverential approach was replaced by the contemporary perspective unveiled on GIVE IT UP.

This excellent set included versions of Jackson Browne's "Under The Falling Sky" and Eric Kaz's "Love Has No Pride" and established the artist as an inventive and sympathetic interpreter. TAKIN' MY TIME

featured assistance from Lowell George and Bill Payne from Little Feat and included an even greater diversity, ranging from the pulsating "You've Been In Love Too Long" to the traditional "Kokomo Blues." Subsequent releases followed a similar pattern, and although STREETLIGHTS

was a minor disappointment, HOME PLATE,

produced by veteran Paul A. Rothchild, reasserted her talent. Nonetheless Raitt refused to embrace a conventional career, preferring to tour in more intimate surroundings. Thus the success engendered by SWEET FORGIVENESS

came as a natural progression and reflected a genuine popularity. However, its follow-up, THE GLOW,

although quite commercial, failed to capitalize on this newfound fortune, and while it offered a spirited reading of Mable John's "Your Good Thing," much of the material was self-composed and lacked the breadth of style of its predecessors. Subsequent releases GREEN LIGHT

and NINE LIVES

proved less satisfying and Raitt was then dropped by Warner Brothers, her outlet of 15 years. Those sensing an artistic and personal decline were proved incorrect in 1989 when NICK OF TIME

became one of the year's most acclaimed and best-selling releases. Raitt herself confessed to slight amazement at winning a Grammy award. The album was a highly accomplished piece of work, smoothing some of her rough, trademark blues edges for a more commercial market.

The emotional title track became a US hit single while the album, produced by Don Was of Was (Not Was), also featured sterling material from John Hiatt and Bonnie Hayes. Raitt also garnered praise for her contributions to John Lee Hooker's superb 1990 release, THE HEALER,

and that same year reached a wider audience with her appearance at the concert for Nelson Mandela at Wembley Stadium. She continued in the same musical vein with the excellent LUCK OF THE DRAW,

featuring strong material from Paul Brady, Hiatt and Raitt herself. The album was another multi-million seller and demonstrated Raitt's new mastery in singing smooth emotional ballads; none better than the evocative "I Can't Make You Love Me."

Her personal life also stabilized following her marriage in 1991 (to Irish actor/poet Martin O'Keefe), and after years of singing about broken hearts, faithless lovers and ‘no good men’, Raitt entered the '90s at the peak of her powers.

She was also growing in stature as a songwriter; on her 1994 album she displayed the confidence to provide four of the songs herself, her first nine albums having yielded only eight of her own compositions. Although that album LONGING IN THEIR HEARTS

spawned further US hits and achieved two million sales, it was a record that trod water. Even her US hit version of Roy Orbison's "You Got It," from the film Boys On The Side, sounded weak. On her first-ever live album, ROAD TESTED,