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Singer Bettye Lavette, Still Raising Hell

NPR

Published March 5, 2006 at 4:16 PM EST

'I've Got My Own Hell to Raise' was a comeback album for a woman who hit the top of the charts in 1963... then seemed to fade away.

Bettye LaVette grew up in the same Detroit neighborhood as Smoky Robinson, Jackie Wilson and Aretha Franklin. But she didn't make it to the heights that they did. After a Top 10 R&B hit in 1962, her follow-up singles failed, and she bounced from record label to record label, never quite breaking through to stardom.

LaVette is currently celebrating her 60th birthday, and her latest album, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. And as she's done for four decades, she's still raising hell on the concert circuit.