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This is 80: Soul Legend Bettye Lavette Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

Feb 1100:40:42Tap to summarize

From the time I was 10, I’ve been obsessed with what it means to grow older. I’m curious about what it means to others, of all ages, and so I invite them to take “The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire.”Sometimes you’ll find responses from writers, musicians, and artists you’ve heard of—like well, Bettye Lavette! And Kate Pierson, Neko Case, Rosie O’Donnell, Ava Duvernay, Jerry Saltz, Lucy Sante, Ricki Lake, Hilma Wolitzer, Elizabeth Gilbert, Judith Viorst, Cheryl Strayed, Deesha Philyaw, Chloe Caldwell, etc. But more often it will be people (of all ages) you haven’t heard of, Humans of New York-style. (Check out all the Oldster interviews…)Here, singer Bettye LaVette—considered by many to be the greatest vocal interpreter of soul and R&B—responds, in a video interview that was condensed and edited as text below. With big thanks to guitarist/singer-songwriter Ann Klein, my friend who plays in Lavette’s band and put us in touch. -Sari BottonPS If you’re enjoying the work I do here at Oldster, please consider helping me keep going by becoming a paid subscriber. 🙏 From the Blues Foundation, which in 2020 inducted Bettye Lavette into its Hall of Fame: Bettye LaVette had a hit singing blues as a teenager on her first record, “My Man” on Atlantic in 1962, and though her repertoire has evolved into one of the most eclectic imaginable, blues audiences have embraced the depth and passion of her performances, no matter what she may sing. No one puts more of herself into her songs with such soul-baring drama than Bettye LaVette.However LaVette may identify herself as a song interpreter, her life story could certainly be turned into a series of blues songs. Her autobiography, A Woman Like Me, begins with a pimp dangling her over the ledge of a 20-story building and brazenly recounts her years of struggles, catastrophes, and dashed hopes, pulling no punches about herself or anyone else. Onstage she exudes the same brash boldness.Born Betty Jo Haskins in Muskegon, Michigan, on January 29, 1946, she was raised briefly in Pontiac and mostly in Detroit in a house where her parents sold corn liquor to a clientele that included R&B and gospel singers. She adopted the name Betty LaVett when she first recorded, later modifying the billing to Bettye LaVette. An introduction to singer, producer, and songwriter Johnnie Mae Matthews led to the hit recording of Matthews’ song “My Man,” and despite cutting many more records over the years, some of them (“Let Me Down Easy” in particular) regarded as soul classics, LaVette never enjoyed another Top Ten record. Some 45s generated chart action, but spurts of success ended in misfortune or in lack of interest or promotion by record labels, and LaVette sometimes had to take other jobs or find local club gigs to support herself. Joining the cast of the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar kept her going for several years.LaVette’s perseverance into the new millennium finally set her on the road to widespread acclaim. Soul and blues aficionados not only sought out her old records but discovered that as a live performer she was even more exciting—even stunning. One such LaVette devotee, Kevin Kiley, brought her not only continuing support, but also wedded bliss. European labels issued a live CD and rescued a Muscle Shoals album that had been kept in the can by Atlantic. A U.S. album on Blues Express netted her a Handy Award from the Blues Foundation in 2004, and she subsequently was voted best female artist in both the contemporary blues and soul blues categories in the Blues Music Awards. Her unique adaptations of songs from country singers, British rock groups, Bob Dylan and other sources on albums for ANTI-, Cherry Red and Verve earned GRAMMY nominations in the fields of R&B, Americana, and blues. Rosebud Agency bookings, blues and soul festival appearances, performances at the Kennedy Center and the inauguration celebration for President Obama, and television guest spots brought her profile into well-deserved prominence at last. —How old are you?I turned 80 years old on Friday, January 30th. It has always been my belief, though, that there are no children in show business. And I believe I was 80 at about 50. Really it’s a business that ages you, because it takes you so fast, but it continuously forces you to look healthy and act better. But we are the oldest people in the world. And when you look at little children in show business that idea, “Oh, but they’re so cute.” If they’ve been in show business for a year, they aren’t cute. They’re just little things that have been taught to look cute.I wouldn’t want to be young again for any reason. I know all the confusion that being young brings, and being young, you don’t know that it’s bringing it.Is there another age you associate with yourself in your mind? If so, what is it? And why, do you think?No, not really because I have a daughter and two grandchildren, and I can listen to them and reflect upon when I was that age. They’re almost sections of the ages that I’ve been. I’ll go to my granddaughter who is the youngest, Marissa, for fashion advice, certainly internet advice. I’ll call my grandson in the middle of the night and say, “Which button do I push to do this?” And really, they are the youth in me in terms of what’s happening today. I’m still doing the same thing that I’ve done since 1962. They’re all just helping me with it now, but I don’t want you to be able to reach me at any time. I don’t want to walk around with something in my hand looking down at it all day, but they do.So I’m happy to let my daughter be 65 and just retired from the Board of Education in Michigan. I am happy that my granddaughter, who has just turned 35, has just gained a degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. I am happy that my grandson, who’s just turned 40, has become a sommelier. And the only thing I knew about wine before was, this one will make you drunk and that one doesn’t work so well. So they’re the extensions of me and I’m able to use them and I do.Do you feel old for your age? Young for your age? Just right? Are you in step with your peers?I’m not absolutely in step with my peers. When you get to be this age, half of my peers are dead. But the people that are like me, I feel a little bit out of step with a lot of them because while I have an existence of champagne and marijuana, I drink lots of water and work out and eat absolutely correctly. That’s all I’m willing to do.When I’m on the stage, I tell the audience I have these lyrics in front of me because I am suffering from “CRS”—Can’t Remember S**t. I mean, the people who come to see me at this point, of course, I’m grateful there are some younger ones, but the older ones understand everything I’m talking about.What do you like about being your age?The fact that when I say something to you, I mean it, and I know exactly why I mean it. I wouldn’t want to be young ag...

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This is 80: Soul Legend Bettye Lavette Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

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