R&B veteran LaVette starts raising 'Hell'

09/25/2005 3:38 AM, Reuters
Todd Martens

Bettye LaVette landed a top 10 R&B hit with her very first single. In 1962, when she was only 16, her "My Man, He's a Loving Man" peaked at No. 7.

The following 43 years, however, have not been as kind. Despite having friends like Stevie Wonder and receiving the attention of such labels as Atlantic and Motown, the past four decades have been a struggle for LaVette. An album she recorded for Atlantic subsidiary Atco in 1972 went unreleased until 2000, resurfacing only after French soul collector Giles Petard discovered it in the Atlantic vaults.

"It took me so many years to get over Atlantic not releasing it," LaVette says. "They had already sent me the plane tickets to go on a promotional tour. Atlantic didn't even think they had it anymore. I was told it had been lost in a fire."

The raspy-voiced LaVette never stopped singing, but she had practically given up on the label side of the music business.

"I don't think of myself as a recording artist," she says. "I think of myself as an entertainer. I was without an agent for nearly 30 years, just doing nothing gigs. Mike Kappus saw me and signed me to his Rosebud Agency. He promised to find me a manager and a record deal."

Musician/composer Ry Cooder became interested, but when a deal could not be nailed down, Cooder persuaded Andy Kaulkin, president of punk-rooted label Epitaph and its eclectic offshoot Anti-, to see LaVette perform. LaVette says Kaulkin approached her as soon as she walked offstage, and Anti- released her "I've Got My Own Hell to Raise" September 20.

PREVIOUS R&B SUCCESS

LaVette was familiar with Anti- as the label that issued Solomon Burke's Grammy Award-winning "Don't Give Up on Me" in 2002.

Like Burke's album, "I've Got My Own Hell to Raise" was produced by Joe Henry. Per Kaulkin's suggestion, LaVette reworks songs by Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams and Dolly Parton into fiery R&B tunes on the album. But initially she was skeptical that she could find contemporary female songwriters to relate to.

"I don't have girlfriends and I haven't had man problems in years, and I don't like to shop and I don't like to chat," LaVette says. "Since I've done this for so long, and the business is typically done by men, I tend to be more chauvinistic. With all the men I've worked with, I think I have artificial balls."

LaVette did not want any songs that conveyed vulnerability or coyness, and she slightly altered the lyrics to Parton's "Little Sparrow" and Williams' "Joy" to greater reflect her voice. Of the 100 songs Kaulkin fed her, LaVette found nine that captured her desired mix of attitude and maturity -- or, in the case of Mann's "How Am I Different," a bit of sarcasm.

"I picked Mann's song because it was sassy," she says. "If I drank four bottles of champagne, that song is probably the way I'd deal with you."

Following the Burke template, Epitaph is counting on being able to resurrect LaVette's career, and the artist already has performed on "Late Show With David Letterman." The album will be reviewed on NPR, and Epitaph/Anti- general manager Dave Hansen says the label has secured a track on a compilation that will be distributed to boutique hotels.

On September 24, LaVette will perform at the Austin City Limits Festival in Austin.

If the album proves a hit, it is about time, LaVette says. "I've given this my entire youth," she says. "If this becomes a commercial success, then I'll feel like a debt has been paid."

Reuters/Billboard