Bonnie Raitt's hard road to stardom: How 13-time Grammy winner shocked Gen Z with 2023 win
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: American blues, folk and country singer Bonnie Raitt took home an unexpected Grammy for ‘Song of the Year’ for her single ‘Just Like That' at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on February 5, brining her total career wins to 13. Her last win came 10 years ago in 2013, for Best Americana Album for 'Slipstream'. The critically acclaimed 73-year-old much younger nominees including Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
Raitt won two more awards during the ceremony - Best Americana Performance for 'Made Up Mind,' and Best American Roots Song for the same tune that made her the winner for Song of the Year. However, the latter win surprised everyone, including Raitt herself, who said in her speech, “This is just an unreal moment." She said, as previously quoted by MEAWW, "Thank you for honoring me, to all the academy that surrounds me with so much support and appreciates the art of songwriting as I do. I was so inspired for this song by the incredible story of the love and the grace and the generosity of someone that donates their beloved's organs to help another person live, and the story was so simple and so beautiful for these times." She further added, "I don't write a lot of songs, but I'm so proud that you appreciate this one and what this means for me and for the rest of the songwriters."
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According to Diario AS, Raitt' first Grammy Award win came in 1990 when she won Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance (female), and Best Rock Vocal Performance (female) - all for her ‘Nick Of Time’ album. In 1992 she took home three different awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance (female), Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. She then won Best Pop Album for ‘Longing In Their Hearts’ in 1995. After that she took home the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for her ‘SRV Shuffle’ in 1997. In 2013, she bagged Best Americana Album win for ‘Slipstream.’
However, the 2023 win left many shocked. One said, "The biggest surprise tonight!" Another said, "One has heard this song." A user commented, "Maybe that song is good but just so surprise, not many people heard it before, I think song of the year should be success on business."
Maybe that song is good but just so surprise, not many people heard it before, i think song of the year should be success on business
— Chloe Hong (Jianyu) (@Matile_Saravia) February 6, 2023
While one wrote, "Not dissing any of the other great nominees but the most shocking thing about Bonnie Raitt's win for #Grammys Song of the Year last night is how many people apparently didn't know who she was." Another user said, "Every person in that room who voted knows who John Prine was and counted him as an inspiration. I know this was supposed to be some kind of shock, but there was no way Bonnie Raitt’s John Prine song was going to loose."
Not dissing any of the other great nominees but the most shocking thing about Bonnie Raitt's win for #Grammys Song of the Year last night is how many people apparently didn't know who she was.
— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) February 7, 2023
Every person in that room who voted knows who John Prine was and counted him as an inspiration. I know this was supposed to be some kind of shock, but there was no way Bonnie Raitt’s John Prine song was going to loose.
— Whiskeyprayer (@Carsonraml) February 6, 2023
Bonnie Raitt's hard road to stardom
Born in Los Angeles on November 8, 1949, Raitt, who was raised in a musical family, released her debut album, the self-titled 'Bonnie Raitt' in 1971. "My folks were part of the Broadway music scene,” she told Classic Rock in a 2004 interview. Raitt added, “My dad [John] was the original leading man in Carousel, and he was in a show called The Pajama Game, which was big in the fifties. I had a musician mom who played great piano, and a father who became a musical director; he sang all the time. My two brothers and I grew up in a musical household. My grandparents were also musical, which set me off in that direction. And then I used to go off to summer camp when my dad would be on tour; this would have been in the late fifties or early sixties, when I was nine or ten. A lot of the camp counsellors were caught up in the folk music revival that was sweeping the East Coast, things like the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary, plus The Weavers and Pete Seeger. Also, we were Quakers, and were involved in civil rights and in the folk music ban-the-bomb protest movement. That tweaked my interest in playing the guitar. I wanted to be like Joan Baez. But I had no designs on being a professional musician, it was just a hobby while I was in college. I was always musical and I loved lots of musical styles – rhythm and blues, rock’n’roll and ballads. The same mix that you’ll find on my albums is what I was into back then.”
Over her five-decade long career, Raitt produced a stream of well-received work, working with the likes of Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, The Pointer Sisters and John Prine, whose ‘Angel From Montgomery’ she covered in 1974 and made a hit.
Battle with addiction and overcaming struggles
However, in mid-80s, her success turned into a series of struggles. She started drinking but soon joined a recovery programme in 1987. Talking about it. she said, as quoted by The Guardian, “I recognised that I had been in the grips of an increasing addiction, reliant on drugs and alcohol to numb my feelings.” Her 10th album, 'Nick of Time,' was her first made sober and sold 7 million copies in the US alone.
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