Biography
Born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bette Smith reconnected with her musical roots in Memphis and Mississippi – and fulfilled a promise to her late brother in the process. Recording her debut LP “Jetlagger” in Mississippi brought her to the core of the gospel she sang in church and the soul music she heard on hot summer nights growing up in Brooklyn. ‘Jetlagger’ – out now on Big Legal Mess Records, a Fat Possum subsidiary – is sprung from the “south coming to me, grabbing me and pulling me down there. The migration came up and got me. My southern neighbors in Bed-Stuy influenced me,” she notes. Bette’s power and energy was enjoyed by many during her 2018-19 domestic and international touring, which vividly brought to life the rich, soulful charm of ‘Jetlagger.’ Billboard Magazine reflects on this joyful combustion, saying Bette “imbues tracks with shingly, sawtoothed texture capable of breaking off a high note with a throaty cry or scraping so low and wide that she threatens to put her bass player out of work.”
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