Happy 75th Birthday, Bonnie Raitt! See the Accomplished Blues Singer’s Life in Photos
Bonnie Raitt is celebrating her diamond birthday.
The 13-time Grammy Award winner turns 75 on Nov. 8, 2024. Over her five-decade career, the blues rock star has released 18 studio LPs, earned two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and sold 20 million records. She was also a frequent session musician, collaborating with artists including Warren Zevon, the Pointer Sisters and Jackson Browne.
As the singer hits a new milestone, see her life in photos, from her accolades to causes she holds close to her heart.
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Bonnie Raitt’s Childhood
Bonnie Raitt was born in Burbank, California, on Nov. 8, 1949, to pianist Marge Goddard and musical theater actor John Raitt. She grew up with two brothers, Steven and David.
Raitt majored in social relations and African studies at Harvard University, but in her second year, she took a semester off to follow blues promoter Dick Waterman and fellow musicians to Philadelphia.
Her experience led her to take another year off school to pursue music — and she never came back to Harvard.
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Bonnie Raitt Releases Her Debut Album
While opening for blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell, a Newsweek reporter spotted her, resulting in record company scouts coming out to hear her play. Raitt later signed with Warner Bros. and released her self-titled debut album in 1971.
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Bonnie Raitt Leaves Warner Bros.
After several albums failed to live up to her record label Warner Bros.’ commercial expectations, the studio dropped Raitt from their roster in 1983. At the time, she was also struggling with alcohol and substance abuse problems. In the late ‘80s, Raitt started psychotherapy and joined Alcoholics Anonymous to get sober.
“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 sloppy or dead,” she told Parade magazine in 2012 after 25 years of sobriety.
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Bonnie Raitt Wins Album of the Year
In 1989, Raitt had a commercial resurgence with her 10th studio album Nick of Time. The record hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and won her album of the year at the 32nd Grammy Awards.
The success of Nick of Time carried onto her following two albums, 1991’s Luck of the Draw and 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts. The former produced one of Raitt’s signature songs, “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which was later re-recorded by George Michael, Boyz II Men and Adele.
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Bonnie Raitt’s Marriage to Michael O’Keefe
Raitt married Academy Award-nominated actor Michael O’Keefe on April 27, 1991. In a February 1999 60 Minutes interview, Raitt said that her marriage to O’Keefe had been a “humbling experience.” The pair announced their divorce later that year, on Nov. 9, 1999.
“Their different professions drove them apart,” a friend of the pair told PEOPLE following the 1999 split. “But for a while they did try to make it work.”
The source added, “They supported each other. It seemed like a good match.”
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Bonnie Raitt’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
On her first nomination, Raitt was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 alongside James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Earth, Wind & Fire and more.
After being introduced by Melissa Etheridge, Raitt said in her speech, “I don’t know if any of us ever get up here expecting to reach this level of respectability when we’re first bopping around our rooms as kids to our favorite records. I know I never expected to make a living out of it, let alone take a place next to all these legends I’ve watched walk up these stairs.”
The artist added, “Nobody gets up here who wasn’t obsessed [with music], didn’t worry their parents, didn’t mess up their relationships — and if they did it right, probably their health as well. It’s the thing that still drives me, and it always will.”
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Bonnie Raitt’s Political Activism
Throughout her career, Raitt has stayed involved in politics. Her second album, 1972’s Give It Up, had a dedication to the people of North Vietnam on the back, and she was a founding member of Musicians United for Safe Energy in 1979. The “Something to Talk About” singer was also involved in the anti-nuclear movement, joining civil disobedience groups like the Abalone Alliance and Alliance for Survival.
During the 2008 Democratic primaries, Raitt supported candidate John Edwards until he suspended his campaign to accept the vice presidential nomination. In 2016, Raitt endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
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Bonnie Raitt Wins Song of the Year
Kevin Winter/Getty
In 2023, 33 years after her album of the year victory, Raitt took home her second general field Grammy. The blues legend won song of the year for “Just Like That” in a category that included Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.”
“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,” Raitt said of the song, which was inspired by her late friend who died of coronavirus, John Prine.
She continued, “I don’t write a lot of songs but I’m so proud that you appreciate this one.”
Source: People
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