Bonnie Raitt Biography

Bonnie Raitt was born November 8, 1949 and is an American blues singer-songwriter, born in Burbank, California. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially accessible recordings in the 1990s including Nick of Time, Something to Talk About, Love Sneakin Up on You, and the slow ballad I Cant Make You Love Me. Raitt has received nine Grammy Awards in her career and is an avid political activist.

1977s Sweet Forgiveness gave Raitt her first commercial breakthrough when it yielded a hit single in her cover of Del Shannons Runaway. Recast as a heavy R&B recording based on a rhythmic groove inspired by Al Green, Raitts version of Runaway was disparaged by many critics, but its commercial success prompted a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia Records. There was this big Columbia “ Warner war going on at the time, recalled Raitt in a 1990 interview. James Taylor had just left Warner Bros. and made a big album for Columbia...And then, Warner signed Paul Simon away from Columbia, and they didnt want me to have a hit record for Columbia ” no matter what! So, I renegotiated my contract, and they basically matched Columbias offer. Frankly the deal was a really big deal.

Warner Bros. held higher expectations for Raitts next album, 1979s The Glow, but it was released to poor reviews as well as modest sales. Raitt would have one commercial success in 1979 when she helped organize the five MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concerts at Madison Square Garden. The shows spawned a three-record gold album as well as a Warner Bros. feature film, No Nukes. The shows featured co-founders Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, John Hall, and Raitt as well as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and numerous others.

For her next record, 1982s Green Light, Raitt made a conscious attempt to revisit the sound of her earlier records, but to her surprise, many of her peers and members of the press would compare her new sound to the burgeoning New Wave movement. The album received her strongest reviews in years, but her sales did not improve and this would have a severe impact on her relationship with Warner Bros.

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