Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505260031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The daughter of Broadway star John Raitt, she forged her own musical career as a critically acclaimed blues-rock artist in the 1970s, fell on hard times in the 1980s, then re-emerged triumphant in the 1990s.
Of course, that familiar biography is only a thumbnail sketch of Raitt, who will play the Roanoke Civic Center coliseum Sunday night. On closer look, from press clippings and recent interviews, a more complete picture of her rise-and-fall-and-rise-again emerges, offering a few surprises about her career that also shed light on her as a person.
To begin with, despite her multi-Grammy success, Raitt says she still doesn't consider herself mainstream.
``My music isn't as widely accepted as Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey,'' she told The Associated Press. ``I don't think great masses of people are familiar with everything about me.''
She says she also feels out of step when it comes to politics. Raitt, 45, is an outspoken liberal who has long devoted herself to social and political causes, from women's rights to the No Nukes movement to her current endeavor, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
``With the older fans, I always thought I was singing to the converted,'' she said in another interview. ``Now I've got this new, larger audience who doesn't necessarily...share my politics.''
Not that she has toned down. ``Frankly, I'm not gonna alienate people, but I'm not gonna shut up,'' she added. ``And if they don't want to buy my records because of it, too bad.''
Chances are her work with The Rhythm & Blues Foundation won't alienate many. The foundation is dedicated to honoring older R&B artists who now find themselves nearly forgotten by a music industry they helped pioneer.
``We're talking about artists I grew up idolizing,'' Raitt has said. ``People like Ruth Brown, Charles Brown, The Clovers and The Coasters either did not have a royalty agreement, or didn't get the proper royalty accounting. A lot of these people are in their 60s and 70s now. They didn't make enough money to be in the union, and they have no health insurance.''
For her part, Raitt was able to persuade her label, Capitol Records, to raise the royalty rates for its older R&B artists. In addition, Raitt often books these older artists to open her concerts, as she has done with Ruth Brown and Charles Brown for her show Sunday in Roanoke.
Raitt never had to worry about health insurance when her career similarly took a dive about a decade ago. In fact, Raitt says her so-called fall from grace has been terribly exaggerated by a media looking for a quick rags-to-riches hook for her so-called comeback.
``Look, I was always a headliner. I was always making records. Anybody that's been around knows this about me, knows I was a headlining concert act in the '70s and '80s as I am now. It's just inaccurate how much space has been given to this story,'' she told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel last year.
``Yes, certainly `Nick of Time' blew it out to a different level. But was I unsuccessful before?''
``Nick of Time'' was her 10th album, but proved to be the commercial juggernaut that critics and loyal fans had predicted for years, earning Raitt an armful of Grammy Awards in 1990 and selling 4 million copies.
Previously, her biggest commercial success had been when she reached No. 57 on the charts with a remake of Dion's ``Runaway'' in 1977. Then, disco and new wave and MTV pushed her out completely.
Finally, despite a string of solid albums beginning with ``Give It Up'' in 1972 and ending with ``Nine Lives'' in 1986, her longtime label, Warner Brothers, dropped her altogether. At the same time, she was losing a battle with alcoholism that also wasn't helping her career or her personal life.
By 1989, however, she had joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Capitol Records signed her on and hooked her up with Don Was, who produced ``Nick of Time'' and her subsequent releases, ``Luck of the Draw'' and ``Longing in Their Hearts.'' Also, she found personal happiness with actor Michael O'Keefe, whom she married in 1991.
But she seems to know her midlife hot streak could end anytime. She almost expects it.
``I was amazed that this third album got great reviews,'' she told Hearst Newspapers. ``The worst thing about being on top or at least closer to the flame, I guess, is that eventually people are going to start slagging. You get a couple of years of being the darling and all of a sudden they start knocking you down. I'm just starting to see that with me.''
It doesn't bother her, she says.
She often points to her father, a member of the Theater Hall of Fame, who starred in such Broadway classics as ``Carousel,'' ``Oklahoma'' and ``The Pajama Game,'' but couldn't get work on Broadway after 1956. He has spent his career since then working happily in regional theater and touring shows.
``My lesson from my dad is to just ignore the public fickleness, or whatever it is, that makes somebody hot one minute and cold the next,'' she told a San Diego newspaper last year. ``I don't want to play that game...I just want to play the music I know I do well, and really mean it, for anybody who wants to hear it - whether it's at a little coffeehouse in Cleveland or at Radio City Music Hall.''
Bonnie Raitt: Sunday, 7:30 p.m., Roanoke Civic Center Coliseum. With Charles Brown and Ruth Brown. Tickets, $22.50, at box office (981-1201), Ticketmaster outlets (cash only), or charge-by-phone (343-8100, 804-846-8100 in Lynchburg, 951-TICS in Blacksburg).
Memo: ***CORRECTION***