Bonnie Raitt: Blues Powerhouse
When Bonnie Raitt started college in the late 1960s, she was already deeply involved with folk music and blues, having gotten “the itch” at age 14 when she heard the album, “Blues and Newport 1963.” Within three years, she quit college and committed herself full-time to music. It didn’t take long before she was opening for giants of the blues.
By 1971, Warner Bros. had signed her up, and she released her debut album, Bonnie Raitt. Over the next seven years she would record six albums. Give It Up, Takin’ My Time, Streetlights, and Home Plate were followed in 1977 by Sweet Forgiveness, which featured her first hit single, a gritty Memphis/R&B arrangement of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Three Grammy nominations followed in the 1980s, as she released The Glow, Green Light, and Nine Lives. A compilation of highlights from these Warner Bros. albums (plus two previously unreleased live duets) was released as The Bonnie Raitt Collection in 1990.
In between sessions, when not burning highways on tour with her band, she devoted herself to playing benefits and speaking out in support of an array of worthy causes, campaigning to stop the war in Central America; participating in the Sun City anti-apartheid project; performing at the historic 1980 No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden; co-founding MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy); and working for environmental protection and for the rights of women and Native Americans.
In 1989, she moved to Capitol Records, and in 1990 won her first four Grammys. Several of her albums have gone multi-platinum, and over her career, she has been nominated for 27 Grammy Awards and has won 10.
Just last year, she released her 20th album, Dig in Deep. Here’s the sultry, swaggering Bonnie Raitt performing a song on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show:

Bonnie Raitt will be at the Centre In The Square on Wednesday, June 7th. Don’t miss your chance to see his powerhouse of the blues scene. Get your tickets now.