Raitt, Bonnie

Raitt, Bonnie , one of the most talented female song interpreters and bottleneck-guitar stylists to emerge in the 1970s; b. Burbank, Calif., Nov. 8, 1949. Bonnie Raitt often toured with the black blues artists that influenced her while recording the songs of obscure contemporary songwriters such as John Prine, Eric Kaz, and Karla Bonoff. Recording the definitive version of Kaz and Libby Titus’s moving “Love Has No Pride” and Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery,” Raitt enjoyed modest success during the 1970s. Neglected by her longtime record label Warner Bros., Bonnie Raitt finally broke through into mass popularity on Capitol Records with the 1989 album Nick of Time, and sustained that popularity with 1991’s Luck of the Draw and 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts, all produced by Don “Was” Fagenson.

The daughter of Broadway singer-actor John Raitt (Carousel, The Pajama Game, and Oklahoma), Bonnie Raitt moved with her family from N.Y. to Los Angeles in 1957. Between ages 8 and 14 she was exposed to authentic blues and politicized folk music while attending Quaker summer camps in upstate N.Y. She took up guitar at age nine, and later learned piano. By her mid-teens she had mastered the bottleneck or slide-guitar technique that was to characterize her work. In 1967 she moved to Boston to attend Radcliffe Coll. and met Dick Waterman (her manager until 1986), who introduced her to old blues performers such as John Hurt, Fred McDowell, and Sippie Wallace. She played Cambridge folk clubs such as Club 47 and enjoyed success in folk clubs around Boston, Philadelphia, and N.Y. By 1969 she had dropped out of Radcliffe and met bassist Freebo, a former member of the Edison Electric Band, who became a mainstay of her touring band of the 1970s.

Signed to Warner Bros. Records in spring 1971, Bonnie Raitt’s debut album contained two Sippie Wallace songs, “Mighty Tight Woman” and “Woman Be Wise,” the originals “Thank You” and “Finest Lovin’ Man,” and Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues.” Her second album, Give It Up, became her first album-chart entry and included “Give It Up or Let Me Go,” “Love Me like a Man,” Sippie Wallace’s “You Got to Know How,” and the definitive version of Eric Kaz and Libby Titus’s “Love Has No Pride.” Bonnie Raitt returned to the West Coast to record Takin’ My Time under producer John Hall of Orleans. The album featured Eric Kaz’s “Cry Like a Rainstorm,” Chris Smither’s “I Feel the Same,” and Randy Newman’s “Guilty.” By 1974 Raitt’s modest success had enabled her to assemble a touring band based around Freebo, and she toured tirelessly for years. She began playing electric lead guitar with Streetlights, recorded in N.Y. under R&B producer Jerry Ragavoy. It included a stellar rendition of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” and the favorite “You Got to Be Ready for Love.”

Bonnie Raitt moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where she recorded Home Plate, which included “Good Enough” and “Run Like a Thief.” Her first major success came with 1977’s Sweet Forgiveness, which produced a sluggish version of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” (a minor hit) and contained Karla Bonoff’s “Home” and Paul Siebel’s oft-recorded “Louise.” In 1979 Raitt became a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) with John Hall, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash; she performed at five MUSE benefit shows staged at Madison Square Garden. The Glow, recorded under producer Peter Asher, included her own “Standin’ by the Same Old Love” and Robert Palmer’s “You’re Gonna Get What’s Coming,” a minor hit. In 1980 Raitt scored a minor country hit with Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” from the film Urban Cowboy. After 1982’s Green Light, recorded with Tex. guitarist Johnny Lee Schell and veteran keyboardist Ian McLagan, Warner Bros, refused to issue her next album, tentatively titled Tongue and Groove. She nonetheless continued to tour with a new band based around Schell and bassist James “Hutch” Hutchinson. She appeared at the Farm Aid and Amnesty International concerts and eventually assembled Nine Lives for release on Warner Bros. In 1987 Raitt participated in the joint Soviet/American Peace Concert, staged in Moscow.

Under new management, Bonnie Raitt eventually signed with Capitol Records. She recorded Nick of Time under producer Don “Was” Fagenson and the album became a surprise best-seller, eventually moving more than four million copies. The album yielded hits with John Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love” (the first single and Raitt’s first music video), the title track, and Bonnie Hayes’s “Have a Heart”; it also included the self-affirming “I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again,” “I Will Not Be Denied,” and her own “The Road’s My Middle Name.” In 1990 Raitt recorded duets with John Lee Hooker on “I’m in the Mood” and B. B. King on Doctor John’s “Right Place Wrong Time.” Raitt netted four Grammys in 1990, celebrating her newfound success and long career in the business. In 1991 she recorded Luck of the Draw with producer Don Was. The album yielded the smash hit “Something to Talk About,” the major hit “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” and the moderate hit “Not the Only One” and eventually sold more than five million copies. That same year Raitt cofounded the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, to help aged (and often poverty-stricken) pioneers of that musical genre. Bonnie Raitt’s perseverance had finally paid off, and her success continued with 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts, again under producer Was. The album featured the major hit “Love Sneakin’ Up on You,” “Feeling of Falling,” and Richard Thompson’s “Dimming of the Day.” In 1995 she scored a minor hit with a remake of Roy Orbison/Jeff Lynne/Tom Petty’s “You Got It,” which was used as a theme song for the film Boys on the Side; she also issued a two-CD live set, Road Tested, along with a video. Raitt was honored with a Bonnie Raitt—signature Fender guitar, with profits earmarked to encourage women to learn the instrument.

Discography

B. K. (1971); Give It Up (1972); Takin’ My Time (1973); Streetlights (1974); Home Plate (1975); Sweet Forgiveness (1977); The Glow (1979); Green Light (1982); Nine Lives (1986); The B. R. Collection (1990); Nick of Time (1989); Luck of the Draw (1991); Longing in Their Hearts (1994); Road Tested (1995).

—Brock Helander