The Queen has arrived. Now: Sit down and listen Muthafucka.
PHOTO: ELIZABETH FLADUNG
My beloved nephew brought this ferocious R&B songstress, Bettye LaVette, into my consciousness after he profiled her for Vanity Fair in 2009. I hadn't started Glorious Broads yet, but had been incubating and ruminating with trusted confidantes — like nephew dear. He saw right off that Bettye embodied everything I'd been thinking of for a Glorious Broad — she is funny, unconventional, gritty, delightfully wicked, fucking unstoppable and age just don’t matter Muthafucka (Bettye’s favorite word.) Plus some of her titles are right out of my life: “I Got My Own Hell to Raise” — “Not Gonna Happen Twice” — sing it, sister. Her ups and downs in the music industry are the stuff of legend. She calls this her “Buzzard luck” — but is riding high now with countless awards and nominations in this WTF year alone. The stamina and stick-to-it-iveness are more Classic GB. I got to ask her everything. And Muthafucka, she answered — no holds barred. Get ready for your new favorite singer — the incomparable Glorious Broad Bettye LaVette …
GLORIOUS PROFESSION: Songstress and Song Interpreter — Nonpareil
GLORIOUS PERSONA: The Epitome of R&B. No Bullshit
GLORIOUS QUALITIES: Profoundly Profane, Wickedly Funny, Endlessly Tenacious,
Funky and Sophisticated
GLORIOUS PHILOSOPHY:
“I’m not trying to be cute at this point. I’m trying to be legendary and REALLY good”
TODAY YOU HAVE MEGA SUCCESS — AFTER SO MANY UPS AND DOWNS. DO YOU FEEL REVENGE — ESPECIALLY WITH MOTOWN WHO DISSED YOU FOR YEARS? OR ARE YOU ZEN CHILL?
NOOOOO Girrrrlllll — ARE YOU JOKING!!!???
In my glasses, I pretty much look the way I did the last time Motown saw me … I sound better than ever. And I can wear a size six! So YES, revenge. YESSSSSSS. Absofuckinlutely!
OMG
You know Motown made the stupid mistake — you know I’m from Detroit …
OH I KNOW.
And I was suffering there, surrounded by people I started out with who became multi-fuckin-millionaires. Smokey Robinson lived across the alley. Ok? I’d be sitting at lunch with Martha Reeves and have everybody rush over to ask for her autograph — and not even look at me. So Motown — bless their hearts …
HARD!!!
And I've seen them all naked, drunk, broke — or all three. And Motown was having their annual Heroes and Legends Awards, and in 2010, they were giving me the Outstanding Achievement Award. Whaaaa? I don't know why they didn't think I’d be revengeful. My poor husband during my speech — he kept sliding farther and farther under the table as I went around the room — calling every one of them out. The Temptations took me on the road with them for several gigs. But they are the only people that lifted a finger to help me — and I was not nothin’. I was already in show business and had a national best-selling record. And other than Marv Johnson, Mary Wells and the Temptations — NOTHIN’. I had drug dealers I knew from high school who became rich and would leave me some joints and money to get me by … trying to help me hold on.
OOOOO. YOU ARE NO ONE TO BE TRIFLED WITH, WOMAN …
But I’m having a wonderful time with my success. FINALLY… (Laughs wickedly)
AND YOU'RE FAME AS WELL ….
So I've been doing this little online radio show on Friday nights …
And I told my producer — well — I don't think we'll be able to talk to anybody from Motown … (Laughs)
WHY DIDN'T IT CLICK WITH YOU AND MOTOWN BACK THEN?
I came up with 90 million conclusions and we couldn’t put our finger on it. Everybody kept saying, “I love her voice.” Maybe I didn’t have enough of a “girl voice” for Berry Gordy? It’s been called more of a combination of James Brown and Wilson Picket …
HELLUVA COMBO...
Hell yeah. But very different from Diana Ross …
SO WHAT CAME NEXT?
So many starts and stops. I had my hit — “My Man” — at 16. It was all, “She's gonna be the young wonder.” And I recorded “Let Me Down Easy.” And that was going to be the rhythm and blues song of the century. I got in “Bubbling Brown Sugar” the Broadway smash from '76, it was like, oh, wow, this is going to be IT – but more nothin’. Every time one of those situations fell apart. I quit. But then, somebody would call … I call this now my fifth career.
Sportin’ the mini and flush with her first success — “My Man”
YOUR DRIVE IS SO DAMN INSPIRING — ALL THOSE DECADES. I SAW YOU IN FORBE’S “50 OVER 50” …. IN THE COMPANY OF NANCY PELOSI AND KAMALA HARRIS … WOE.
Well, this time around, over 70, things have been very, very substantial. It feels different.
I have a million fans now but I collected them 10,000 at a time over 60 years. (Laughs.) I used to travel all over the world — I'd hear the Supremes or Barbra Streisand in the elevator and say: Nobody's ever gonna know me. I am never gonna make any money. I'm going to die broke and obscure. Now I say I’m just gonna die broke — not obscure.
THIS YEAR ALONE YOU WERE INDUCTED INTO THE BLUES HALL OF FAME, BEST SOUL BLUES FEMALE ARTIST FROM THE BLUES MUSIC AWARDS, MOST OUTSTANDING BLUES SINGER FOR LIVING BLUES MAGAZINE CRITIC’S POLL. AND YOUR SIXTH GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM.
Can you believe — one of the best years of my life and I'm living right here stuck in my fuckin’ living room …. (Laughs)
HELLOOOO. COVID IS STEALING YOUR THUNDER!
Yeah! Extremely frustrating because I have waited so long for this. I don't know how much more time I've got. But getting to participate in all of these things — even from home — has made my day a little different from my neighbors. (Chuckles)
WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU GOT THIS RESILIENT, BAD-ASS ATTITUDE FROM?
I was born with it — my MOTHER built it into me. Literally. I’ve been drinking my entire life ‘cause my mother never stopped drinking — or fighting — I’m lucky she never smoked! She wanted me to be Bettye La Vette.
“These junior people that I’m losing these Grammys to — my great wish is to run into them drunk one night in a little bar in Manhattan — with just a piano. No beats.”
WAS SHE THRILLED TO SEE YOU GET THAT SINGLE AT 16?
I was the first person in my family who had ever done anything! In school or out of school.
YOU’VE PLAYED WITH EVERYBODY. WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE?
Every time I'd come back — the people are different. And I’m older. The first time I went on the road was with Benny King. Just weeks before I had been at my teen hangout spot, Mr. Jerrys — across the street from school, dancing to The Drifters…
So I was, theoretically, a groupie on the road. I mean, every time those people would open their dressing rooms, I was standing there. (Laughs)
Then a little later, Otis Redding was playing in Detroit. He and I were the new kids on the block. And we became romantically enamored. I go on tour — and when I came back — BING— Otis was huge. Most of these people got to be bigger than me. So I never got a chance to spend a lot of time with them.
WELL YOU KNOW THEM ALL ...
One person who is definitely not my favorite is James Brown. (Laughs) He barred me from singing “Let Me Down Easy” while we were on the road together — ‘cause it got too much applause … I was ready to challenge him but was barred.
THAT’S THE WAY HE RAN HIS SHIP?
Everyone around James was afraid of him. I wasn’t.
WHAT WAS YOUR HARDEST TIME?
Any time I would have to come back to Detroit after something had fallen through — and everything had changed. Club owners were babies — they didn’t know who I was — then somebody would tell them and they were like — oh yeah — I think I remember you. And I’d have to start all over again …
“I would never want to be young again as long as I live.”
AND HOW ABOUT HAPPINESS? HAS THAT CHANGED?
It used to be a limited amount of things — like looking out at an audience. But now I look at my daughter and my grandchildren and that makes me happy. And my husband Kevin Kiley — who loves me to the point that he gets on my nerves. I mean you wake up in the morning to a hangover and this guy is singing a love song or listening to music (Laughs.) If you hear me listening to music in the morning — I’ve gotta gig I’m getting ready for.
WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT KEVIN. HE'S YOUR HUSBAND AND YOUR MANAGER — AND SEXY AND YOUNGER. YESSSS! YOU MET HIM LATER IN LIFE, RIGHT?
I met him on the internet baby! And yes — he pretty much took on a senior citizen. Now if we argue about anything I say: Hey, when we met, I was old and drunk. And nothing has changed. (Laughs) We’ve been together for 18 years…
OH THAT’S A STORY GBs NEED TO HEAR …
Some adult must have sent him my music. So he sent me an email saying he was a fan and had heard that someone who shall remain nameless was going to produce my next record. He pleaded with me: Don't do that. You don’t want to work with him.
I sent him a message back. First. Who the fuck are you?
I LOVE YOU.
And second: Do you have any money to take me into the studio? Do you know how badly I need a record and how long it's been? Sit down somewhere and shut up.
OH GIRL.
He apologized, said he was a record and antique dealer. He was coming to Detroit — wanted to take me out for dinner. When he opened the door he said: “You’re little.” Hahaha…
WITH THAT BIG VOICE ...
He came back for more shows and more shows and … brought me this beautiful antique diamond sapphire engagement ring.
BUT HOW’D HE GET TO BE YOUR MANAGER?
He’s a music historian. He makes deals quickly. He loves the people. I am not particularly fond of people in showbiz. We all talk about the same thing … ourselves.
IS THERE AN EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING YOU HAD TO LEARN THE HARD WAY?
There’s a song Tony Joe White wrote and its called “Everything I Learned I Learned the Hard Way.” That sums it up.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO OVER AGAIN IF YOU COULD?
Hmmm. The opportunities that I’ve been given — that I blew. Like the first time I was really with some juicy people. Lots of money. Lots of connections. They asked me what TV show did I want to be on. And I said Shindig. Cause that’s what I knew! Should have been Ed Sullvian …
And now the ‘Fro: Chasing the dream in the 70’s
Or the first time I came to NY I decided to dump Atlantic Records. I mean: I told the big deal Jerry Wexler — who went on to produce Aretha’s first single — to get lost! Wha? I didn’t know enough about the record industry to dump anyone — never mind Atlantic! I thought I’d just go and sign with somebody else…
AH, YOUTH… DID YOU FIND A MENTOR?
Jim Lewis, my friend, my manager, who I dedicated my book to.
He made me sing songs that intimidated me at first. He pushed me. He pushed me hard. He’s passed away now, but he instilled everything in me that I needed.
IT MUST HAVE BEEN TOUGH TO GET THE CRITICISM. BUT YOU HELD WITH IT. THAT'S WHAT I LOVE.
Well, it was because ... he wasn't a father figure, so i could cuss right back at him. He can say: ‘I think you’re stupid” and I can say; “Fuck you — you're old.”
We’d do the rounds. I saw everybody who came to Detroit. No matter how big the venue was — I was with him. I got in. He always told me when you go to the door and they don’t know who you are — you ain’t.
WHEN THE TWO OF YOU WENT TO SEE THE GLORIOUS BIG MAYBELLE — YOU WERE SHOWING OFF YOUR 2 INCH WAIST. SHE GOT UP — ALL FLOPPY SLOPPY — AND SANG THE PAINT OFF THE WALLS. HUMBLING!
She just literally wiped the floor up with me. Yeah, she sorted me out.
YOU'VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY’S — SIX TIMES — WHY HAVEN'T THEY RECOGNIZED YOUR SUPERIORITY ALREADY??!!
These Junior people that I'm losing these Grammys to — my great wish is to run into them drunk one night in a little bar in Manhattan — with just a piano. No beats. A real song — not one that you go back and repeat the verse 50 times. A real song that takes you somewhere …
SO YOU WANNA PULL A BIG MAYBELLE?
Exactly!
ANY YOUNG SINGERS YOU ADMIRE? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ?
I really love her — as a singer I am not that enamored. I'm not that enamored with many of them. But Beyoncé’s work ethic — and the way that she and Jay-Z have gone on to become grown adult people. But in terms of singers, I am loving Jill Scott …
SHE’S GOOOOD.
I like her approach. And I like the attention she's giving to it. I know it’s just gonna get better — I can hear her voice in 20 years.
AND DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT YOUR VOICE?
Oh it's gotten better … so much better now than my first hit “My Man.” (Laughs)
AND YOU’RE A GYM RAT? I LOVED WHEN YOU SAID ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO, WHEN THEY START CALLING AGAIN — I’M GONNA LOOK GOOOOOD …
Every day I’m at it. I certainly don't work out like Beyoncé or Justin Bieber, but I'm not trying to be cute at this point. I'm trying to be legendary and really good.
AND YOU HAVE TO KEEP THAT STOMACH STRONG …
Stomach and back muscles strong to sustain notes. You’ve got to breathe correctly. Now Aretha smoked most of her life. And then she gained that weight, lost her stomach muscles. Her voice is sharper and higher than mine, but it was hard to hold those notes.
Awhile back I was losing my voice during performances. They took me to a psychiatrist. And then to a voice specialist. And he said: “Shut up and go to bed.” (Laughs)
I was out every night. I wanted everybody to see me, to hear me. So I just started shutting up and going to bed after a show. Greatest advice I ever got.
“I do whatever I want with whomever
I wanted. Men have no inhibition.
Why should I?”
HOW ABOUT SOME 1 OR 2 LINE ANSWERS TO A FEW THINGS:
You see I’m a woman of a few words. (Laughs)
AGE.
I would never want to be young again as long as I live.
R&B.
I’m the epitome of R&B.
SEX.
Do it as long as you can.
THEN LET’S TALK SEX AND GETTING’ SOME. I LOVE THAT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO APOLOGIES ABOUT YOU AND YOUR VORACIOUS SEX LIFE …
I was raised Catholic — you know how depraved and deprived they are. But I've never seen anything wrong with sex.
YES. YES, YES. YES. YES. (We’re laughing)
AND I ALSO LOVE THAT YOU SAID MEN HAVE NO INHIBITION. WHY SHOULD I?
I do whatever I want with whomever I wanted.
Especially in show biz! The most gorgeous men in the world. Getting panties thrown at them. And they’re in the dressing room next to mine. Knock Knock. (Laughs.)
Now, I’m all loved up. It’s a different thing … but I will never ever let go of sex in my life.
SPEAKING OF HOT: GIVE ME THE HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER! THE KENNEDY CENTER?
I call it my Three Stooges slap. I walked out on the stage and to my right was Beyoncé. In the middle was Aretha.
WOW.
Up above her was Barbra Streisand.
And Pete Townsend sitting next to her crying over my interpretation of his song, Love Reign O’er Me.
OH I SAW THE VIDEO …
It was one of the greatest days of my life. December 18, 2008
YOU SLAYED! AND THEN THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL STAGE WITH A 32-PIECE BAND.
Oh, yes. You know, when I went into rehearsal, we’re finishing a tune, and I was crying. And the musicians were like — what — was it bad? I said, look, I live walking distance from here, and never came to The Hollywood Bowl before. To hear 32 strings behind me, playing my arrangement, to my song — It is quite overwhelming. And I was not ashamed to share that with them. They all applauded.
WHAT'S YOUR LEGACY?
Being a song interpreter.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU, BETTYE — WHEN WE CAN ALL START TO MOVE AROUND AGAIN?
I want to be able to do what I wish. I’m not a road dog anymore. That road will beat you up. But I am really lookin’ forward to that whole Ray Charles career next. My audience is starting to change. I’m getting as many Whites as Blacks, more Latinos and Asians. I want everybody everywhere to know who I am. I want them to pay larger amounts to see me.
I THINK AGING GRACEFULLY IS BULLSHIT. I WANT TO ROAR. HOW ABOUT YOU?
I just want to be able to drink my champagne and smoke joints with my daughter and grandchildren — they are old enough now — and we can work out all of the problems of the entire world.
DO YOU THINK THE CORE OF YOU HAS CHANGED SINCE YOU WERE 30-40-50-60?
I’m the same person. I was an absolute diamond in the rough. And I mean really rough.
YOU ARE SUCH A GLORIOUS BROAD. WHAT DOES GLORIOUS MEAN TO YOU?
Ooooooo. Glorious brings religion back to me. I’m a Bad Ass Broad.
AMEN!
If you haven't already made a plan to buy Bettye's book, “A Woman Like Me” — and check out her latest album Blackbirds please check your pulse. And follow our R&B queen on FB @Bettye LaVette IG @bettyelavette — twitter @bettye lavette and website bettyelavette.com/