Raitt, Bonnie

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BONNIE RAITT

Born: Burbank, California, 8 November 1949

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Luck of the Draw (1991)

Hit songs since 1990: "Something to Talk About," "I Can't Make You Love Me," "Love Sneakin' Up on You"

Performing a unique hybrid of blues, rock, and R&B, Bonnie Raitt earned critical praise beginning in the early 1970s, when her good taste, eclectic musical sensibility, and strong voice informed a series of highly personal recordings. One of the few women to excel at "bottleneck" guitar playing—in which the musician plays with a metal or glass device placed over a finger of the left hand—Raitt brought to her music a genuine respect for the traditions of the past, updating them with a sharp, sensuous modern edge. In 1989, after recording for nearly two decades, she finally gained mainstream recognition with Nick of Time, an album that spawned several hits and Grammy Awards. During the 1990s Raitt continued to refine her style, releasing hits that emphasized her strengths as a subtle balladeer. These successes notwithstanding, Raitt rarely diluted the tough power of her sound, thereby limiting her ongoing commercial presence as the 1990s progressed. A dedicated activist as well as musician, Raitt in the 1990s worked tirelessly to gain recognition and financial assistance for overlooked pioneers of R&B music.

Early Critical Acclaim

The daughter of singer John Raitt, famous for his performances in classic Broadway musicals such as Carousel (1945) and The Pajama Game (1954), Raitt learned guitar at the age of twelve, developing an early love for blues music. Entering Radcliffe College in 1967, Raitt began performing in coffeehouses and clubs, eventually working as an opening act for blues performer John Hammond. Manager Dick Waterman signed her in the late 1960s, arranging for her to appear on bills with his other clients, classic blues singers Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Signing to Warner Bros. Records in 1971, Raitt released a series of albums that garnered critical acclaim but little popular acceptance. Give It Up (1972) is one of the most notable of Raitt's early works, enlivened by tough, assertive blues such as "Love Me Like a Man" and the tender ballad "Love Has No Pride." Throughout the 1970s, Raitt worked with a series of producers on albums that veered from tough R&B to sophisticated pop, all without commercial success—although a 1979 version of 1960s rock singer Del Shannon's song "Runaway" was a minor hit. Dropped by Warner Bros. in 1986, Raitt signed with Capitol Records and began working with Don Was, best known as part of the R&B group Was (Not Was) and as producer for the funky rock group the B-52s. Nick of Time (1989) was Raitt's breakthrough, an album on which her diverse musical impulses coalesced into a polished but gritty sound. Featuring the hit singles "Thing Called Love" and "Have a Heart," Nick of Time won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

1990s Stardom

Raitt's newfound commercial prominence expanded in the early 1990s, with her follow-up to Nick of Time, Luck of the Draw (1991), becoming her best-selling release to date. On the insistent, subtly rocking hit, "Something to Talk About," Raitt finds an ideal outlet for her frisky, likable persona; the song proved so popular that Hollywood producers borrowed its title for a 1995 movie. On the album's second big hit, "I Can't Make You Love Me," Raitt reveals her talents as a gentle ballad singer, building power in her performance through expert timing and vocal control. The song is one of the rare singles to appeal to fans of both hard rock and smooth, "adult contemporary" pop—a measure of Raitt's taste and sensitivity. Elsewhere on the album, Raitt duets with R&B-influenced rock performer Delbert McClinton on "Good Man, Good Woman," a funky track underscored by percolating guitar rhythms. Raitt also proves herself a songwriter of the highest rank, penning the tough, sexually themed "Tangled and Dark" as well as the moving ballad "All at Once," on which she alternates between somber and uplifting passages with consummate skill. The song also represents one of Raitt's most affecting, honest moments on record, her lyrics pointing to a new level of maturity: "Had a fight with my daughter / She flew off in a rage / The third time this week / Don't tell me it's the age." During this period of her career, Raitt found personal contentment, giving up drugs and alcohol and marrying actor Michael O'Keefe in 1991 (the couple divorced at the end of 1999).

After working with Was on Longing in Their Hearts (1994), an album similar in sound and style to its two predecessors, Raitt released a smoldering live set, Road Tested (1995), before switching to the production team of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake for Fundamental (1998). Although commercially disappointing—none of its singles succeeded in charting—Fundamental stands as one of Raitt's most stimulating albums. Froom and Blake, known for their work with rock artists such as Elvis Costello and Suzanne Vega, provide Raitt with a full, dense sound and a gritty edge. The album's opener, "The Fundamental Things," is lean and streamlined, featuring relaxed, simmering horns that fall in line with the song's back-to-basics message: "Let's run naked through the city streets / we're all victims of captivity." "Round & Round" is a roots-oriented blues number, sporting rustic-sounding percussion and Raitt's fine bottleneck guitar work, while "Spit of Love," "I Need Love," and the shuffling "Meet Me Half Way" all rank as tough, uncompromising blues-inflected rock. Critics note that the album's most powerful moment, however, is the brooding "Lovers Will," a song penned by rock artist John Haitt, one of Raitt's favorite writers. Set against a simmering bed of organ, horns, and heavy drums, "Lovers Will" is a dark yet colorful tale of desire and abjection: "Who'll take the only hearts they got, and throw 'em into the fire / who'll risk their own self-respect in the name of desire . . . lovers will." Throughout the song Raitt uses her cool, biting vocals to balance intensity with resignation.

During the 1990s Raitt was heavily involved with the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, an organization that honors overlooked pioneers of R&B. Serving as board member and emceeing benefit events each year, Raitt has given awards to many of her artistic forebears, such as New Orleans–based vocalist Irma Thomas and Ruth Brown, one of the biggest R&B stars of the early 1950s. A member of the liberal Quaker religious tradition, Raitt in the 1990s also lent her support to environmental and antiwar causes. In 2002 she released Silver Lining, handling most of the production duties herself. Beginning with the loose, rocking R&B groove of "Fool's Game" and continuing through the pounding, raucous "Gnawin' on It," the album provides a well-rounded portrait of Raitt's many talents and interests, although it lacks Fundamental 's succinct power.

Bonnie Raitt's passion, commitment, and expansive talent have earned her a special place in American popular music. One of the few female slide guitar players, and an early proponent of eclecticism in rock, Raitt pursued her artistic interests for decades before capturing a mainstream audience in the early 1990s. By the beginning of the millennium, Raitt was producing her own albums and overseeing her career with undiminished vigor.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Bonnie Raitt (Warner Bros., 1971); Give It Up (Warner Bros., 1972); The Glow (Warner Bros., 1979); Nick of Time (Capitol, 1989); Luck of the Draw (Capitol, 1991); Longing in Their Hearts (Capitol, 1994); Road Tested (Capitol, 1995); Fundamental (Capitol, 1998); Silver Lining (Capitol, 2002).