But Lady LaVette seems, by all accounts, to have beaten the odds.  She recorded her first single (an instant hit) in 1962 at age 16 with "My Man - He's A Lovin Man".  This led to a tour with rhythm and blues musicians Clyde McPhatter, Ben E. King, Barbara Lynn, and then-newcomer Otis Redding. 

 Lady LaVette hit the charts again with “Let Me Down Easy" in 1965, which some people consider to be one of the greatest soul recordings ever, and from there she did a short tour with the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. 

The Detroit born La Vette lost her footing in the music business for a time; drifting from one label to the next, with a hit here and a miss there and gave it up altogether at one point, opting for a role on Broadway in "Bubbling Brown Sugar" which she embraced fantastically for 6 years.

In 2005 she knocked us flat with her CD “I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise" and proved to all that she was a Lady not to be forgotten; a point which was further emphasized by performing  at  the  inauguration  for President Obama in a duet with Jon Bon Jovi. 

Lady LaVette is still at the top of her game and her new CD “Interpretations: The British Songbook” only proves that point. It has just the right amount of soul filled gunpowder; and the power her voice reflects both its own endowed quality and the map of the struggles she has encountered.

She is Soul in a bottle, finally uncorked. If you look for Lady LaVette now, you will find her, but you have to look up, because she is flying high where she always was, even when unnoticed.