Bonnie Lynn Raitt ( / r eɪ t / ; born November 8, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. In 1971, she released her first album, which was named after her. After this, she created a series of highly praised albums influenced by traditional music styles such as rock, blues, country, and folk. She often played on recordings and worked with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell.

In 1989, after several years of limited success, she achieved major popularity with her tenth album, Nick of Time, which included the song "Nick of Time." The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It has been preserved in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. Her next two albums, Luck of the Draw (1991) and Longing in Their Hearts (1994), sold millions of copies and included popular songs such as "Something to Talk About," "Love Sneakin' Up On You," and the ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" (with Bruce Hornsby on piano). Her 2022 single "Just Like That" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

As of 2025, Raitt has won 13 competitive Grammy Awards out of 31 nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was ranked No. 50 on Rolling Stone’s list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and No. 89 on the magazine’s list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Australian country music artist Graeme Connors once said, "Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart."

In 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has received the Icon Award from the Billboard Women in Music Awards and the MusiCares Person of the Year Award from The Recording Academy. In 2024, she was honored with the Kennedy Center Honor.

Early life

Bonnie Lynn Raitt was born on November 8, 1949, in Burbank, California. Her mother, Marge Goddard (née Haydock), was a pianist, and her father, John Raitt, was a professional actor and singer in musicals, including the original Broadway lead roles in Carousel and The Pajama Game. Raitt is of Scottish ancestry, a descendant of the Rait Clan that built Rait Castle near Nairn in the 13th century. As a child, Raitt often played with her two brothers, Steve and David, and said she was a tomboy. John Raitt's job as a theatre actor meant that Bonnie did not interact with him as much as she would have liked. She came to resent her mother, who became the main authority figure in the family whenever John was away.

Raitt’s musically inclined parents had a strong influence on her life. From a young age, she and her brothers were encouraged to pursue music. Initially, Bonnie played the piano, but she felt intimidated by her mother’s abilities. Instead, she began playing a Stella guitar, which she received as a Christmas gift in 1957 at the age of eight. Raitt did not take lessons and instead fashioned her style after musicians from the American folk music revival of the 1950s. She was also influenced by the beatnik movement of that period, stating, "It represented my whole belief […] I’d grow my hair real long so I looked like a beatnik."

From ages eight through fifteen, Raitt and her brothers attended an annual summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains called Camp Regis. It was there that Raitt learned of her musical talents, when camp counselors would ask her to play in front of the campers. Learning how to play songs then became a hobby for Raitt. As a teenager, Raitt was self-conscious about her weight and her freckles and saw music as an escape from reality. "That was my saving grace. I just sat in my room and played my guitar," said Raitt. At age 14, she listened to the album Blues at Newport 63, which instilled an interest in blues music and the slide guitar technique.

In 1967, Raitt enrolled at Radcliffe College in Massachusetts, majoring in social relations and African studies. While at Radcliffe, she joined a musical group called the Revolutionary Music Collective, which played for striking students from neighboring Harvard University during the national anti-Vietnam War student strike of 1970. Despite her abilities, Raitt did not consider music to be anything more than a hobby. Her plan after graduation was to travel to Tanzania and work to improve the government under President Julius Nyerere. During her first year of college, Raitt befriended blues promoter Dick Waterman, and in her second year, left school for a semester to travel to Philadelphia with Waterman and other local musicians. Raitt said it was an "opportunity that changed everything."

Career

In the summer of 1970, she performed with her brother David on stand-up bass alongside Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. She also opened for John Hammond at the Gaslight Cafe in New York. A reporter from Newsweek saw her perform and shared news about her talent. Scouts from major record companies soon attended her shows to watch her play. She eventually accepted an offer from Warner Bros., which released her debut album, Bonnie Raitt, in 1971. The album was praised by music critics, who highlighted her skills as a bottleneck guitarist. At that time, few women in popular music were known for their guitar playing.

While admired by audiences and respected by fellow musicians, Raitt did not gain widespread public recognition. Her critical reputation grew, but record sales remained low. Her second album, Give It Up, was released in 1972 and received positive reviews. One journalist called it "an excellent set" and noted her ability as an interpreter of songs. However, it did not improve her commercial success. Takin' My Time, released in 1973, also earned praise from critics but did not lead to higher sales.

Raitt received more media attention, including a 1975 cover story in Rolling Stone. However, reviews of her 1974 album Streetlights became more mixed. By this time, Raitt was experimenting with different producers and styles, moving toward a more mainstream sound that continued with 1975’s Home Plate. In 1976, she appeared on Warren Zevon’s self-titled album.

Raitt was influenced by Lowell George of the band Little Feat, especially his use of an MXR Dyna Comp pre-amp compressor with a slide guitar. B.B. King once called Raitt the "best damn slide player working today."

Her 1977 album Sweet Forgiveness marked her first commercial success with the hit single "Runaway," a remake of the song. Her version, inspired by Al Green’s style, was criticized by some critics but led to a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia Records for her contract. Raitt renegotiated her deal, and Warner Bros. matched Columbia’s offer.

Warner Bros. had high hopes for her 1979 album The Glow, but it received poor reviews and modest sales. In 1979, Raitt helped organize the Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) concerts at Madison Square Garden. These events led to the gold album No Nukes and a Warner Bros. film of the same name. The concerts featured artists such as Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bruce Springsteen, and others.

In 1980, she appeared in the film Urban Cowboy, where she sang "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance."

For her 1982 album Green Light, Raitt tried to return to her earlier sound. However, critics compared her new style to the new wave movement. The album received strong reviews but did not improve sales, straining her relationship with Warner Bros.

In 1983, Raitt was finishing work on her album Tongue and Groove. Shortly after, Warner Bros. dropped her from their roster due to her lack of commercial success. The album was not released, and Raitt lost her record contract. At this time, she also struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.

Despite these challenges, Raitt continued to tour and support political causes. In 1985, she performed in the video for "Sun City," an anti-apartheid song. She also participated in Farm Aid and Amnesty International concerts. In 1987, she traveled to Moscow for a joint Soviet-American Peace Concert and organized a benefit concert in Los Angeles for Countdown '87 to Stop Contra Aid.

Two years after Warner Bros. dropped her, they planned to release Tongue and Groove. Raitt said it was unfair, and Warner Bros. allowed her to re-record half the album, which was released as Nine Lives in 1986. The album was not commercially successful and marked her last recording for Warner Bros.

In late 1987, Raitt joined k.d. lang and Jennifer Warnes as background vocalists for Roy Orbison’s television special. After this, she began working on new material. She had resolved her substance abuse issues and credited Stevie Ray Vaughan for his support after Vaughan’s death in 1990. She considered signing with Paisley Park Records but did not reach an agreement. Instead, she recorded a bluesy mix of pop and rock songs under Don Was at Capitol Records.

Raitt met Don Was through Hal Willner, who was working on a tribute album to Disney music. Willner and Was wanted Raitt to sing on an arrangement of "Baby Mine" from Dumbo. She was pleased with the sessions and asked Was to produce her next album.

After working with Was on the Stay Awake album, Raitt’s management found interest from Capitol Records. She signed with Capitol and released Nick of Time in 1989. The album reached number one on the U.S. album chart after she won multiple Grammy Awards in 1990. Nick of Time was later ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Raitt called it "my first sober album."

She also received a Grammy for her duet "I’m in the Mood" with John Lee Hooker on The Healer. Nick of Time was the first of many recordings to feature her rhythm section of Ricky Fataar and James "Hutch" Hutchinson. Since its release, the album has sold over five million copies in the U.S. alone.

Raitt followed Nick of Time with additional Grammy-winning work.

Artistry

Bonnie Raitt has a contralto vocal range, which means her voice is deep and rich. Music journalist Robert Christgau described Raitt's voice as "not particularly beautiful" but "textured," meaning it has a unique quality. He noted that she can shout, sing softly, carry a melody, or fill a room with sound. Christgau compared her vocal style to "a caring person who knows when to be gentle and when to be strong." Journalist Will Hermes described Raitt's voice as warm and precise. Chris Hansen Orf of The Arizona Republic noted that Raitt is skilled at performing songs from many genres, including blues, folk, country, rock, and pop. Kevin McKeough of the Chicago Tribune observed that blues is the foundation of Raitt's music, with her voice moving between soft sounds, strong calls, and long, sustained notes. Singer Linda Ronstadt said, "Of my own peers, Bonnie Raitt has more musical skill than I do." Singer and guitarist David Crosby has stated that Raitt is his favorite singer of all time.

Personal life

Raitt took breaks from her work, including after the deaths of her parents, brother, and best friend. She explained, "When I went through a lot of loss, I took a hiatus." Raitt married actor Michael O'Keefe on April 27, 1991. They announced their divorce on November 9, 1999, with a possible reason being that their careers caused them to spend much time apart.

Raitt used alcohol and drugs but began therapy and joined Alcoholics Anonymous in the late 1980s. She said, "I thought I had to live that partying lifestyle in order to be authentic, but in fact if you keep it up too long, all you're going to be is harmful or dead." She has been sober since 1987. She credited Stevie Ray Vaughan for helping her stop using substances, saying that seeing Vaughan perform better when sober gave her the courage to admit her alcohol problem and stop drinking. She also said she stopped because she realized the "late night life" was not working for her. In 1989, she said, "I really feel like some angels have been carrying me around. I just have more focus and more discipline, and consequently more self-respect."

Activism

In 1972, Raitt's album Give It Up included a message on the back that said, "to the people of North Vietnam…" This showed her support for ending the war. In 1979, she helped create Musicians United for Safe Energy, a group that worked to stop the use of nuclear power. She also supported other groups like the Abalone Alliance and the Southern California Alliance for Survival. Raitt performed at benefit concerts called Survival Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl to raise awareness about nuclear safety.

In 1994, with help from Dick Waterman, Raitt paid for a new headstone for Fred McDowell, a blues musician who taught her. Later, she also funded headstones for other musicians in Mississippi through the Mount Zion Memorial Fund.

In 2002, Raitt became a supporter of Little Kids Rock, an organization that gives free musical instruments and lessons to children in public schools across the United States. She visited students in the program and serves on the group's board as an honorary member.

At the Stockholm Jazz Festival in 2004, Raitt performed the song "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" from her 1979 album The Glow. She dedicated this performance to then-President George W. Bush, saying, "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!"

In 2008, Raitt gave a song to Aid Still Required's CD to help with relief efforts after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. She also worked with Reverb, an environmental group, during her 2005 and 2006 tours. Raitt is part of the No Nukes group, which works against expanding nuclear power. In 2007, No Nukes made a music video for a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth."

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Raitt, along with Jackson Browne and James "Hutch" Hutchinson, performed at events for candidate John Edwards. In 2016, she supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary campaign.

Guitar

Raitt's main touring guitar is a modified Fender Stratocaster that she called Brownie. This guitar inspired the creation of a special edition model in 1996. Raitt was the first female musician to have a signature line from Fender.

Awards

• In 1992, Raitt received an honorary doctorate in music from Berklee College of Music.
• In 1997, Raitt received the Harvard Arts Medal.
• In 2017, Raitt received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guitar Museum.
• In 2018, Raitt received the People's Voice Award from the Folk Alliance International Awards for her activism.
• In 2022, Raitt received the Icon Award at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.
• In 2024, Raitt received the Kennedy Center Honor.