Long a critic's darling, singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt did not begin to win the comparable commercial success due her until the release of the aptly titled, 1989 blockbuster, [Nick of Time,] her tenth album. [Nick of Time] rocketed her into the mainstream consciousness nearly two decades after she first committed her unique blend of blues, rock, and R&B to vinyl. Born in Burbank, CA, on November 8, 1949, in Burbank, California, she was the daughter of Broadway star John Raitt, best known for his starring performances in such smashes as [Carousel] (Majestic Theatre, 4/19/1945-5/24/1947) and [The Pajama Game] (St. James Theatre, 5/13/1954-11/10/1956; Shubert Theatre, 11/12/1956-11/24/1956), and his first wife, pianist Marjorie Haydock.

After picking up the guitar at the age of 12, according to Raitt, "My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby, nothing more... I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist. The truth is, I never intended to do this for a living. I grew up... in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one."

In 1967, Raitt entered Harvard's Radcliffe College as a freshman, majoring in African Studies. "My plan was to travel to Tanzania, where President Julius Nyerere was creating a government based on democracy and socialism,"Raitt recalled. "I wanted to help undo the damage that Western colonialism had done to native cultures around the world. Cambridge was a hotbed of this kind of thinking, and I was thrilled."

One day, Raitt was told by a friend that blues promoter Dick Waterman was giving an interview at WHRB, Harvard's college radio station. An important figure in the blues revival of the 1960s, Waterman was also a resident of Cambridge. Raitt went to see Waterman, and the two soon became friends, "...much to the chagrin of my parents, who didn't expect their freshman daughter to be running around with a 65-year-old bluesman," recalled Raitt. "I was amazed by his passion for the music and the integrity with which he managed the musicians."

During Raitt's sophomore year, Waterman relocated to Philadelphia, and a number of local musicians he counted among his friends went with him. Raitt had become a strong part of that community, recalling that "...these people had become my friends, my mentors, and though I had every intention of graduating, I decided to take the semester off and move to Philadelphia... It was an opportunity that young white girls just don't get, and as it turns out, an opportunity that changed everything."

Within two years, Raitt was playing folk and rhythm and blues clubs in the Boston area, performing alongside established blues legends such as Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, all of whom she met through Waterman.

In the fall of 1970, while opening for McDowell at the Gaslight Cafe in New York, she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek Magazine, who began to spread word of her performance. Scouts from major record companies were soon attending her shows to watch her play. She eventually accepted an offer with Warner Bros.

Debuting in 1971 with an eponymously titled effort, Raitt immediately emerged as a critical favorite, applauded not only for her soulful vocals and thoughtful song selection but also for her guitar prowess, turning heads as one of the few women to play bottleneck guitar.{1} Her 1972 follow-up, [Give It Up,] made better use of her eclectic tastes, featuring material by contemporaries like Jackson Browne and Eric Kaz, in addition to a number of R&B chestnuts and even three Raitt originals. Also, 1973's, [Takin' My Time,] was much acclaimed, and throughout the middle of the decade she released an LP annually.

With 1977's, [Sweet Forgiveness,] Raitt scored her first significant pop airplay with her hit cover of the Del Shannon classic, "Runaway."{2} The follow-up album, 1979's [The Glow,] appeared around the same time as a massive all-star anti-nuclear concert at Madison Square Garden mounted by MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), an organization co-founded by Raitt.

Throughout her career, Raitt remained a committed activist, playing hundreds of benefit concerts and working tirelessly on behalf of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. By the early '80s, however, her own career was in trouble. Her next album, [Green Light,] while greeted with the usual good reviews, again failed to break her to a wide audience, and while beginning work on the next album, Warner Bros. unceremoniously dropped her. By this time, Raitt was also battling drug and alcohol problems. She worked on a few tracks with Prince, but their schedules never aligned and the material went unreleased. Instead, she finally released the patchwork [Nine Lives] in 1986, her worst-selling effort since her debut.

Many had written Raitt off, but, then she teamed up with producer Don Was and recorded [Nick of Time] in 1991. Seemingly out of the blue, the LP won a handful of Grammys, including [Album of the Year,] and overnight she was a superstar.

In 1991, [Luck of the Draw] was also a smash, yielding the hits, "Something to Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me." After that Raitt issued 1994's [Longing in Their Hearts,] and 1998's [Fundamental.]

In March 2000, Raitt was inducted into the [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.]

[Silver Lining appeared] in 2002, followed by [Souls Alike] in 2005. A year later, [Bonnie Raitt and Friends] was released, featuring guest appearances from Norah Jones and Ben Harper among others.

PERSONAL: Raitt's web site urges fans to learn more about preserving the environment. She was a founding member of Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE).

In 1994 at the urging of Dick Waterman, Raitt funded the replacement of a headstone for one of her mentors, Fred McDowell through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. Raitt would later finance memorial headstones in Mississippi for Memphis Minnie, Sam Chatmon, and Tommy Johnson through the Mt. Zion Fund.

Bonnie Raitt is a staunch liberal. In July 2004, she drew thunderous applause at the Stockholm Jazz Festival for dedicating a classic to sitting (and later re-elected) U.S. President George W. Bush. She was quoted as saying, "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" before she launched into the opening licks of "Your Good Thing (Is About to End.)" ([Ed. Too bad it didn't.]) In 2002, she signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. She has visited children in the program and sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Raitt worked with the group, Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2005 Fall/Winter and 2006 Spring/Summer/Fall tours.

Raitt is part of the [No Nukes] group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song, "For What It's Worth."{3}

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign Raitt, along with Jackson Browne, performed at campaign appearances for candidate John Edwards.

Raitt and actor Michael O'Keefe married on April 27, 1991, (The Associated Press says they were married on April 28, 1991) and announced their divorce on November 9, 1999.

DISCOGRAPHY: STUDIO ALBUMS: Year / Title / US Top 200 / UK Album / RIAA{4} US Cert. / Canadian Cert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1971 / [Bonnie Raitt] / - / - / - / - 1972 / [Give It Up] / 138 / - / Gold / - 1973 / [Takin' My Time] / 87 / - / - / - 1974 / [Streetlights] / 80 / - / - / - 1975 / [Home Plate] / 43 / - / - / - 1977 / [Sweet Forgiveness] / 25 / - / Gold / - 1979 / [The Glow] / 30 / - / - / - / 1982 / [Green Light] / 38 / - / - / - 1986 / [Nine Lives] / 138 / - / - / - 1989 / [Nick of Time] / 1 / 51 / 5x Platinum / 3x Platinum 1991 / [Luck of the Draw] / 2 / 38 / 7x Platinum / 4x Platinum 1994 / [Longing in Their Hearts] / 1 / 26 / 2x Platinum / Platinum 1998 / [Fundamental] / 17 / 52 / Platinum / Gold 2002 / [Silver Lining] / 13 / - / Gold / - 2005 / [Souls Alike] / 19 / - / - / -

COMPILATION & LIVE ALBUMS: Year / Title / US Top 200 / UK Album / RIAA{4} US Cert. / Canadian Cert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1990 / [The Bonnie Raitt Collection] / 61 / - / Gold / - 1995 / [Road Tested] / 44 / 69 / Gold / Gold 2003 / [The Best of Bonnie Raitt on Capitol 1989-2003] /47 / - / - / - 2006 / [Bonnie Raitt and Friends] / - / - / - / -

SINGLES: Year / Title / US Hot 100 / US Rock / US Adult Contemporary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1977 / "Runaway" / 57 / - / - / - 1980 / "You're Gonna Get What's Coming" / 73 / - / - / - 1982 / "Keep This Heart in Mind" / - / 39 / - / - 1986 / "No Way to Treat a Lady" / - / 15 / - / - 1989 / "Thing Called Love" / - / 11 / - / - 1990 / "Have a Heart" / 49 / - / 3 / - 1990 / "Nick of Time" / 92 / - / 10 / - 1990 / "Love Letter" / - / 49 / 35 / - 1991 / "Something to Talk About" / 5 / 12 / 5 / - 1991 / "I Can't Make You Love Me" / 18 / - / 6 / 50 1991 / "Slow Ride" / - / 28 / - / - 1992 / "Not the Only One" / 34 / - / 2 / - 1992 / "Come to Me" / - / - / 10 / - 1993 / "All at Once" / - / - / 18 / - 1994 / "Love Sneakin' up on You" / 19 / 25 / 2 / 69 1994 / "You" / 92 / - / 15 / 31 1994 / "Storm Warning" / - / - / 38 / - 1995 / "You Got It" / 33 / - / 6 / - 1995 / "Rock Steady" (with Bryan Adams) / 73 / - / 30 / 50 1998 / "One Belief Away" / - / - / 15 / - 1999 / "Lover's Will" / - / - / 23 / - 2002 / "Silver Lining" / - / - / 21 / - 2002 / "I Can't Help You Now" / - / - / - / - 2003 / "Time Of Our Lives" / - / - / 27 / - 2005 / "I Will Not Be Broken" / - / - / 27 / - 2006 / "I Don't Want Anything To Change" / - / - / 38 / - ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ {1}Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide is in reference to the sliding motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides, which were the necks of glass bottles. Instead of altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner (by pressing the string against frets), a slide is placed upon the string to vary its vibrating length, and pitch. This slide can then be moved along the string without lifting, creating continuous transitions in pitch.

{2}You can see the lyrics to, and watch a video of "Runaway," by Del Shannon, on mp3lyrics.org at: Del Shannon - Runaway

{3}You can see the lyrics to, and watch a video of "For What It's Worth," by Buffalo Springfield, on mp3lyrics.org at: Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

[Biography written by Jason Ankeny, edited and supplemented by bri4daz.]