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Betty Renne - Betty James - Same?


Mike

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had the below sent in...

anyone help... ?

 

I wonder if you could start a thread on information relating to Betty Renne -from Baltimore  -(Newtown, Lawn)  and the possible link to Betty James (real name Nadine Renay)(Cee Jay -Chess),.

 

Is there any possibility they are one and the same person ?

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13 hours ago, Mike said:

had the below sent in...

anyone help... ?

 

I wonder if you could start a thread on information relating to Betty Renne -from Baltimore  -(Newtown, Lawn)  and the possible link to Betty James (real name Nadine Renay)(Cee Jay -Chess),.

 

Is there any possibility they are one and the same person ?

I don't think Betty Renne is just singing in a much higher register.  Their voices seem to have different tones, as well.  So, I doubt they were the same person.  Betty James' "I'm A Little Mixed Up" is in my Top 5 all-time female Blues recordings (along with greats Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey, Victoria Spivey, and Bessie Smith).

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Betty James' group on her classic 'I'm A Little Mixed Up ' was her family group, who played the club circuit coincidentally in Baltimore inc. her husband on guitar and her son on bass, so Betty was almost certainly older than the very young- sounding Betty Renne, whose unique voice I love equally!

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5 hours ago, Ljblanken said:

I always wondered whether Bette Renne was the same as Betty Renay... I know they are very different styles, but could it be the same voice? 

 

 

 

These 2 ladies have different tones in their voices, even when they sing in the same key.  Also, they have very different mannerisms.  Betty Renay sings Bluesy, and uses a lot of tremelo, while Betty Renee sings a lot less emotionally, lighter material, a softer delivery, and doesn't use tremelo much, if at all.  The first was from Philadelphia, and the latter from Michigan. 

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According to Dave Moore's book "The Philly Sound", Bette Renne is Betty Renee Garvin. She was an early member of the Bluebelles but, left the group before they started recording. Two members of the Thrillettes were Sally and  Vivian Hicks who were former members of the Femm-eles who recorded for the Kay and Bo-Kay-Lo labels

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