Music's leading lady, singer, songwriter, guitarist returns

More than just a best-selling artist, respected guitarist, expressive singer, and accomplished songwriter, Bonnie Raitt has become an institution in American music. Come see her perform her hits, old and new, in the Grande Exposition Hall at Silver Legacy Resort Casino on May 23 at 9 p.m.

Becoming a star
Born to a musical family, the nine-time Grammy winner is the daughter of celebrated Broadway singer John Raitt (Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Pajama Game) and accomplished pianist/singer Marge Goddard.

She was raised in Los Angeles in a climate of respect for the arts, Quaker traditions, and a commitment to social activism. A Stella guitar given to her as a Christmas present launched Bonnie on her creative journey at the age of eight. While growing up, though passionate about music from the start, she never considered that it would play a greater role than as one of her many growing interests.

Musical journey
In the late '60s, restless in Los Angeles, she moved east to Cambridge, Mass., and was already deeply involved with folk music and the blues at that time. Exposure to the album Blues at Newport 1963 at age 14 had kindled her interest in blues and slide guitar.

Three years after entering college at Harvard, Bonnie left to commit herself full-time to music, and shortly afterward found herself opening for surviving giants of the blues. From Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sippie Wallace, Son House, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker she learned first-hand lessons of life as well as invaluable techniques of performance.

Big break
Word spread quickly of the young red-haired blues woman, her soulful, unaffected way of singing, and her uncanny insights into blues guitar. Warner Bros. tracked her down, signed her up, and in 1971 released her debut album, Bonnie Raitt.

Her interpretations of classic blues by Robert Johnson and Sippie Wallace made a powerful critical impression, but the presence of intriguing tunes by contemporary songwriters, as well as several examples of her own writing, indicated that this artist would not be restricted to any one pigeonhole or style.

Catalog
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.

Grammys
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.

Skyrocketing in the '90s
After forging an alliance with Capitol Records in 1989, Bonnie achieved new levels of popular and critical acclaim. She won four Grammy Awards in 1990 - three for her Nick of Time album and one for her duet with John Lee Hooker on his breakthrough album, The Healer.

Platinum albums
Within weeks, Nick of Time shot to number one (it is now certified quintuple platinum). Luck of the Draw (1991, seven-times platinum) brought even more success, firing two hit singles - Something to Talk About and I Can't Make You Love Me - up the charts, and adding three more Grammys to her shelf. The double-platinum Longing in Their Hearts, released in 1994, featured the hit single Love Sneakin' Up On You and was honored with a Grammy for Best Pop Album. It was followed in 1995 by the live double CD and film Road Tested.

Stevie Ray Vaughn tribute
She picked up another Grammy in 1996 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for her collaboration on SRV Shuffle from the all-star Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and continued her "dual career," performing with her father, John, in concerts as well as on his Grammy-nominated album, Broadway Legend, released in 1995.

The 'Fundamentals'
In 1998, she returned to the studio with a new collaborative team to create Fundamental, one of her most exploratory projects, signaling her growing desire to "shake things up a bit." Inspired by the music of Zimbabwean world-beat master Oliver Mtukudzi, Bonnie wrote "One Belief Away," the first single.

Rock 'n"Roll Hall of Fame
In March of 2000, Bonnie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; this was followed by her welcome into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, along with her father, in June 2001.

New millennium
After the Fundamental Tour and more inspirational travel, she went back into the studio with her veteran road band to record Silver Lining, released in 2002.

Tour and activism
Featuring Bonnie's stunning interpretation of the David Gray-penned title track, the Grammy-nominated Gnawin' On It, and the hit single I Can't Help You Now, Silver Lining was considered by many critics to be one of the best albums of her career. She promoted the album with a lengthy world tour that included her Green Highway Festival and an eco-partnership promoting BioDiesel fuel, the environment, and alternative energy solutions at shows and benefits along the way. In 2003, she released the retrospective The Best of Bonnie Raitt on Capitol.

Guest appearances
Raitt also stayed busy with more guest appearances, including the stunning duet Do I Ever Cross Your Mind on Ray Charles’ final release, Genius Loves Company, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and a duet on the Grammy-winning album True Love by Toots & The Maytals.

Her 1989 breakthrough album, Nick of Time, was remixed for surround sound, and released by Capitol Records in 2004 as a DVD-Audio, garnering a Grammy nomination in the newly created category, Best Surround Sound Album.

Television and film
In 2003, she also participated in Martin Scorsese's acclaimed PBS series, The Blues, performed two songs in Wim Wenders' film, The Soul of a Man, and joined the all-star cast of Lightning in a Bottle, the live feature concert film on the blues directed by Antoine Fuqua.

She also contributed songs for two Disney movies, The Country Bears and Home on the Range. In 2005, she played guitar on a track on the new Stevie Wonder album, A Time To Love, released a DVD of her 1977 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and appeared in the upcoming TV/DVD tribute, Music l0l: Al Green.

Latest album
The release of Souls Alike, her eighteenth album, marks yet another brave, exhilarating step in a legendary body of work. All of Raitt’s experiences led her to Souls Alike, her first album ever to bear the credit "Produced by Bonnie Raitt."

Featuring some surprising new directions and, as she describes them, "thorny, adult themes," the ambitious and innovative Souls Alike reveals an extraordinary artist who’s never been content to rest on her laurels.