Bettye LaVette in Washington

Bettye LaVette is an American soul singer, born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1946 and raised in Detroit. She made her first record as a teenager, “My Man, He’s a Lovin’ Man,” and became closely associated with the soul ballad “Let Me Down Easy.” Later albums including I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, The Scene of the Crime and the Bob Dylan songbook Things Have Changed brought renewed attention to her interpretive singing. In 2008, she performed The Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., as part of the tribute to the band. The following year, she joined Jon Bon Jovi for “A Change Is Gonna Come” at the We Are One inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial.