[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]I was in Italy on the same festival that he was on and coming out of my dressing room. Security would not let anyone out of the dressing room, and I said, “Well, why?” And they said, “Because Mr. Dylan is going onstage,” and I’m like, “Well, I don’t care! Let me out of my dressing room!” So I come out of my dressing room and I’m angry because he’s got my band and me and everybody trapped while he takes 50 steps to the stage. So I’m walking along the same path that he is, but on the other side of the room, and I said, “Hey, Robert Dylan!” And he was walking with his bass player and his bass player mouthed to him: “That’s Bettye LaVette!” He walked over to me, took my face in both his hands, kissed me dead on the mouth and walked on the stage. So that’s what we’ve done thus far [Laughs].
–Bettye LaVette (NPR interview, May 2018)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Bettye LaVette (born Betty Jo Haskins, January 29, 1946) is an American soul singer-songwriter who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, with her album I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise. Her eclectic musical style combines elements of soul, blues, rock and roll, funk, gospel, and country music.
In 2020, LaVette was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.