The Carlyle Hotel is pleased to welcome back R&B legend Bettye LaVette – who the Huffington Post has dubbed “the high priestess of R&B”- to the legendary Café Carlyle in a return three-week engagement playing through March 31. Ms. LaVette will once again showcase her inimitable style, gut wrenching vocals and songs from throughout her five decade career in a soul-shattering evening. She’ll be accompanied by a band led by her musical director Alan Hill.
Cited as “the last great vernacular black singer” by The New Yorker, Bettye LaVette has been honing her skills since her first single was released at the tender age of 16 in 1962. Yet it wasn’t until four decades later when she was signed to Anti-Records in 2004 that Bettye began to garner a wide audience. Before that, she seemed to be the best kept secret in the world of rhythm & blues.
With the release of My Own Hell to Raise in 2005 and the follow-up, Scene of the Crime out in 2007, public awareness of Bettye began to grow. As a result, she was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008. Hers was such a riveting performance the producers of the show proceeded to ask Bettye to sing at President Obama’s Inaugural Celebration in front of the world.
Meanwhile, since the release of last year’s Interpretations: the British Rock Songbook, Bettye “now rivals Aretha Franklin as her generation’s most vital soul singer,” according to The New York Times. With two Grammy nominations under her belt and performances to sold-out venues all over the globe, Bettye is an undisputed world class interpreter of any genre of song.
Café Carlyle is located in The Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th St. at Madison Avenue.
“An Evening with Bettye LaVette” plays Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:45 p.m. Call (212)744-1600 for additional information or visit www.thecarlyle.com.
