Betty Everett

• Genre: '60s Oldies
• Hometown: Chicago

About

Mississippi-born singer Betty Everett made beautifully sophisticated rock 'n' roll, Soul and R&B records that were full of soaring vocals and sharply detailed, melodramatic production. Everett started out singing in church and made the switch from sacred to secular when her recording career began in Chicago in the late 1950s. She had a hit with her first record with the oft-covered "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)." Other hits included "You're No Good" (which Linda Ronstadt covered basically note for note in 1975) and the wonderful Soul number "It's Getting Mighty Crowded." Everett's voice is a wonder to behold, a perfect combination of honey and grit, with a beautiful crack in the upper register. The production on her records strikes a balance between the glossy economy of early 1960s Motown and the glorious excess of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.

- Tom Heyman