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Beth Hart (born January 24, 1972) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. She rose to fame with the release of her 1999 single "LA Song (Out of This Town)" from her second album Screamin' for My Supper. The single was a number one hit in New Zealand, as well as reaching the top 5 of the US Adult Contemporary and Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 charts.
Hart has had several well received collaborations with guitarist Joe Bonamassa, beginning with Don't Explain (2011), followed with the Grammy Award-nominated Seesaw (2013) and Live in Amsterdam (2014). Live in Amsterdam topped the Billboard Blues Album Chart, a chart that she has reached six times. Her latest work with Bonamassa was the 2018 album Black Coffee. Hart has had two number 1 singles in Denmark, "As Good as It Gets" and "Learning to Live", and a double platinum-selling album, Leave the Light On.
Hart's second to last album, A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (2022), is a collection of Cover version of Led Zeppelin songs.
Regarding her childhood in an interview with Don Wilcock, Hart stated, "When I was a kid, my dad left me in a bad way, and what fucked me up the most was that he would be in the lives of my other sisters and brothers, but he wouldn't be in mine." At the age of 22, Hart lost her sister from complications of AIDS.
Hart entered Los Angeles' High School for the Performing Arts in 10th grade as a vocal and cello major. At the prompting of a classmate, she soon began singing during open mic nights in the Belly Room of the Comedy Store.
In 1993, Hart appeared on Ed McMahon's Star Search, ultimately winning the Female Vocalist competition. Hart has stated that winning the show did not land her a record deal due to the stigma associated with performing on the show, and that she had burned through the prize money she received by the time she struck a deal with Atlantic Records.
Hart's follow-up album, Leave the Light On, was released in 2003 via Koch Records, after being dropped by Atlantic presumably due to Hart's drug addiction. While still successful in New Zealand, the album saw her breakthrough in the European market, with the single "Learning to Live" reaching number 1 in Denmark, while the album achieved a 2× Platinum certification. "Learning to Live" was also used as the theme song to Losing It with Jillian on NBC. In 2003, she became the first and only musician to feature as backing vocalist for a Deep Purple song ("Haunted", released on the Bananas album).
Two years later in 2005, Hart released her first live album, Live at Paradiso, which was recorded at a former church in Amsterdam, and released both as a CD and a DVD. It featured a variety of Hart's self written songs and a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. Hart appears on Toots Thielemans' album One More For the Road on the track "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues", which was released in 2006.
Hart's fourth solo studio album 37 Days was released in Europe in July 2007, and eventually as a DVD as well. The album debuted at No. 1 in Denmark and spent two weeks at the top, her first album to top a national chart, and additionally reached a Gold certification in the country. The record was her last on a major label (Universal), though it solidified her European commercial success.
During this time, Hart collaborated with Slash on "Mother Maria", released on the iTunes version of Slash's 2010 solo album, Slash, and additionally collaborated with rapper Born on his single "It Hurts", released in February 2012. Following her tour with Jeff Beck in 2006 through the United States, she appeared with him again in December 2012, at the Kennedy Center Opera House, along with a group of blues/rock musicians, performing "I'd Rather Go Blind" in tribute to Buddy Guy, who received a 2012 Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime of contributions to American culture. The performance received a standing ovation from President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and led to the collaboration with Buddy Guy, where he recorded the song "What You Gonna Do About Me" with Hart for his album Rhythm & Blues.
In 2011, Hart collaborated with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa on their first co-release Don't Explain, an album of blues and soul classics. The album reached number 3 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart and also went gold in the Netherlands. She additionally provided vocals for the track "No Love on the Street" on Bonamassa's Dust Bowl, which was released the same year.
The following year, Hart's release Bang Bang Boom Boom became one of her biggest commercial successes, appearing on the charts of at least 10 countries, as well as becoming her first to chart on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, climbing to Number 3. She worked with producer Kevin Shirley, whom she collaborated with for the first time on the album Don't Explain. The album was released the following year in the United States.
In 2013, Hart and Bonamassa released Seesaw, again produced by Kevin Shirley. The album rose to number 8 on the Billboard Top Independent Album Chart. In 2014, Hart was nominated for a Grammy Award for Seesaw and was also nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category Best Contemporary Blues Female Artist. The album additionally holds her highest peak position on the Billboard 200, reaching the Top 50.
Hart's second live album/DVD, Live in Amsterdam, was also recorded in Amsterdam, this time at the Royal Carré Theatre. Hart and Bonamassa went on a mini European tour of five shows (Bergen, NorwayLondon, UKAntwerp, BelgiumAmsterdam, Netherlands), of which two were at the Carré Theatre.
In 2014, she performed once again with Jeff Beck, this time during his Australian tour as a supporting act, in addition to joining him on stage during his set.
Hart released her eighth studio album, Fire on the Floor, on October 14, 2016, in Europe, New Zealand and Australia. For the rest of the world it was released on February 3, 2017, to coincide with her tour. Hart wrote all songs herself, except for "Let's Get Together" (with Rune Westberg) and "Fat Man" (with Glen Burtnik). The title track was released first followed by "Love Is a Lie", which is the official first single off the album.
On January 26, 2018, Hart and Bonamassa released Black Coffee, again produced by Kevin Shirley. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, and also in the Dutch album top 100.
On November 30, 2018, Hart released a live concert recording, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, as a video release and a live album on Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group. The recordings were captured in May 2018 when she performed at the Royal Albert Hall.
Hart released her ninth solo studio album, War in My Mind, on September 27, 2019, through Provogue/Mascot Label Group. The album became her highest-charting solo album in a number of European markets, including the UK where it reached the Top 20, as well as Germany, where it hit the Top 10.
Describing his collaborator's performance at Blue Balls Festival in Switzerland, Joe Bonamassa told Music Radar: "I was totally knocked out by Beth. Here's this lady who's acting like I'm the cool one, and meanwhile I'm thinking, Man, she's got it all. She's the new Janis Joplin, Tina Turner - the real deal, you know?"
American pop singer Miley Cyrus lists Hart amongst her favorite singers of all time. In 2013, she told Billboard, "she's got one of the best voices, I feel like, of all time."
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