‘Something To Talk About’

There are few people with a musical resume as impressive as Bonnie Raitt. The nine-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has given fans something to talk about for over 30 years.

This summer, she makes a stop at the The Early Show as part of the tour promoting her latest CD, "Silver Lining."

Raitt's 16th career album shows the artist hasn't slowed down. The single, "I Can't Help You Now," is the debut single from "Silver Lining."

Raitt co-wrote with Roy Rogers a song called "Gnawin' On It." The inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee said, "Roy Rogers has got one of the most incendiary styles of slide guitar I've ever heard, and I've always wanted to work with him, either onstage or on a record. I felt that this was the time to do it, so I called him up and went to his house, and we jammed on different feels that afternoon."

The female artist was also inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame with her father, legendary Broadway singer John Raitt, on June 29, 2001.

Raitt is not only an artist but a social and political activist as well. She has long been involved with the environmental movement, doing concerts around forest, oil, mining and water protection since the mid-70s.

She is one of the co-founders of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation which fosters wider recognition, financial support and historic and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues through various grants and programs in support of artists of the '40s, '50s and '60s.

In 1995, Raitt initiated the Bonnie Raitt Guitar project with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, currently running in over 180 clubs around the world, to encourage inner city kids to play music as budgets for music instruction in the schools run dry.

She is currently co-headlining a summer tour with Lyle Lovett that started in Birmingham, Ala. It finished Sept. 22 in Los Angeles.

FAST FACTS ABOUT BONNIE RAITT

• Born to a musical family, Bonnie Raitt is the daughter of celebrated Broadway singer John Raitt and accomplished pianist/singer Marge Goddard. She was raised in Los Angeles.
• As a Harvard/Radcliffe student majoring in Social Relations and African Studies, she attended classes and immersed herself in the city's turbulent cultural and political activities. She dropped out in 1969 and began playing on the Unite States folk and blues circuit. She became friendly with many of the surviving blues legends, including Howlin' Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell and particularly Sippie Wallace, with whom she later recorded.
• Warner Brothers signed Raitt and she released her debut album in 1971.
• She won four Grammy Awards in 1990, three for her "Nick of Time" album and one for her duet with John Lee Hooker for his breakthrough album, "The Healer." "Luck of the Draw" (1991) brought more success, firing two hit singles, "Something to Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me" up the charts, and adding three more Grammys onto her shelf. "Longing in Their Hearts" was honored with a Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1993.