Bonnie Raitt

Born in Burbank, California in 1949, Bonnie Raitt grew up between American folk culture and musical theatre before discovering the blues while studying at Harvard/Radcliffe and performing in Cambridge clubs around the turn of the 1970s. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, Raitt developed a style centered on a distinctive slide-guitar technique and songwriting that moves between blues, rock, folk, country and rhythm and blues. Her debut album, simply titled “Bonnie Raitt” and released in 1971, established this roots-oriented direction, followed throughout the decade by records such as “Give It Up” (1972), “Takin’ My Time” (1973) and “Sweet Forgiveness” (1977), which placed her on the American circuit of mid-size venues, festivals and shared tours with blues and rock artists. In the late 1980s she entered a new phase with “Nick of Time” (1989), recorded with producer Don Was, followed by “Luck of the Draw” (1991) and “Longing in Their Hearts” (1994), which reinforced a more mature approach mixing soul ballads, mid-tempo tracks and covers of singer-songwriters. Subsequent albums such as “Fundamental” (1998), “Silver Lining” (2002), “Slipstream” (2012), “Dig In Deep” (2016) and “Just Like That…” (2022) continued to develop an immediately recognizable guitar sound and a voice rooted in the blues, while keeping Bonnie Raitt at the intersection of rock, folk and Americana scenes and combining a musical career with social engagement.