Biography
Bonnie Bramlett built her reputation as an R&B and rock vocalist after relocating to Memphis in the early 1960s. There she worked as a session and backup singer alongside such R&B and blues artists as Fontella Bass and Albert King. She later joined the Ikettes, the vocal group supporting Ike & Tina Turner, and this affiliation took her to Los Angeles in 1967. In California she encountered Delaney Bramlett, formerly of the Shindogs, the house band on the television program Shindig. The pair wed five days later and launched the duo Delaney and Bonnie. They recorded an album for Stax Records in Memphis with Booker T. and the MG's, although the project remained unreleased at the time. They next assembled Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, whose lineup included Leon Russell among its members, and issued Accept No Substitute in 1969. After the ensemble opened shows for Blind Faith, Eric Clapton departed that act to perform with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, a collaboration that also drew George Harrison and Dave Mason. The resulting live document, On Tour, appeared soon afterward, and several participants from the Friends circle subsequently contributed to projects by Clapton and Harrison as well as Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Delaney and Bonnie continued releasing records until their divorce. Bramlett subsequently formed the Bonnie Bramlett Band and delivered her first solo effort, Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, supported by the Average White Band, in 1973. She then moved to Capricorn Records for the albums It’s Time (1975), Lady’s Choice (1976), and Memories (1978). After embracing born-again Christianity she shifted her focus to gospel singing. In 1987 she began acting under the name Bonnie Sheridan, appearing in the film The Doors and the series Roseanne. Bramlett reentered the recording sphere in 2002 with I’m Still the Same, her first album in more than two decades, issued on Audium. The collection finds her exploring jazz, blues, and adult-contemporary material while retaining much of her original vocal strength.
Albums
