November 8: Happy Birthday Bonnie Raitt

I never saw music in terms of men and women or black and white. There was just cool and uncool.
~Bonnie Raitt

Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.
~Bonnie Raitt

I would rather feel things in extreme than not at all.
~Bonnie Raitt

Melissa Etheridge inducts Bonnie Raitt Inductions 2000:

From Wikipedia:

Birth name	Bonnie Lynn Raitt
Born	November 8, 1949 (age 66) Burbank, California, United States
Genres	Blues, country, folk-rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, political activist, philanthropist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, slide guitar
Years active	1971–present
Labels	Warner, Capitol
Website	bonnieraitt.com

Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is a renowned American blues singer-songwriter and slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially accessible recordings in the 1990s including “Nick of Time”, “Something to Talk About”, “Love Sneakin’ Up on You”, and the slow ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. Raitt has received nine Grammy Awards in her career and is a lifelong political activist.

Love Like A Man (live):

“Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart.”
-Graeme Connors

• After nearly 20 years, Bonnie Raitt achieved belated commercial success with her tenth album, Nick of Time. Released in the spring of 1989, Nick of Time went to the top of the U.S. charts following Raitt’s Grammy sweep in early 1990. This album has been voted number 230 in the Rolling Stone magazine list of 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Raitt herself pointed out that her 10th try was “my first sober album.”
• In March 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Bonnie Rait is listed at number 50 in the Rolling Stone magazine list of 100 Greatest Singers.
• She is also listed at number 89 in the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists.

 

Album of the day:

Give It Up (1972):

From allmusic.com – STE:
Bonnie Raitt may have switched producers for her second album Give It Up, hiring Michael Cuscuna, but she hasn’t switched her style, sticking with the thoroughly engaging blend of folk, blues, R&B, and Californian soft rock. If anything, she’s strengthened her formula here, making the divisions between the genres nearly indistinguishable. Take the title track, for instance. It opens with a bluesy acoustic guitar before kicking into a New Orleans brass band about halfway through — and the great thing about it is that Raitt makes the switch sound natural, even inevitable, never forced. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg here, since Give It Up is filled with great songs, delivered in familiar, yet always surprising, ways by Raitt and her skilled band. For those that want to pigeonhole her as a white blues singer, she delivers the lovely “Nothing Seems to Matter,” a gentle mid-tempo number that’s as mellow as Linda Ronstadt and far more seductive. That’s the key to Give It Up: Yes, Raitt can be earthy and sexy, but she balances it with an inviting sensuality that makes the record glow.
…read more over @ allmusic.com 

-Egil