Ruthie Foster

Ruthie Cecelia Foster (born February 10, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter of blues and folk music. She mixes a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul, and her live performances are powerfully transfiguring. (www.allmusic.com) She has often been compared to Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin.

Foster is from Gause, Texas and comes from a family of gospel singers. At the age of fourteen, Ruthie was a soloist in her hometown choir, and was certain that her future would revolve around music. After high school, Ruthie moved to Waco, Texas to attend community college, where her studies concentrated in music and audio engineering. She began fronting a blues band, learning how to command a stage in the bars of Texas.

Hoping to travel and gain a wider world perspective, Foster joined the Navy, and soon her musical talents soon had her singing in the naval band Pride, that played pop and funk hits at recruitment drives in the southeastern United States. Following her tour of duty, Ruthie headed to New York City where she became a regular performer at various local folk venues. Atlantic Records got wind of Foster's talent and offered her a recording deal, with the intent of cultivating her as a budding pop star, but Foster wasn't interested in a pop career, preferring instead to explore the various strains of American roots music that had informed her childhood. When her mother fell ill in 1993, Foster left New York and her recording deal and returned to Texas to be with her family. She began working as a camera operator and production assistant at a television station in College Station, Texas while she cared for her mother, who passed in 1996. A year later in 1997, Foster self-released the album Full Circle, the success of which paved the way to a long relationship with the record label Blue Corn Music.

Blue Corn released the follow up album Crossover in 1999, Runaway Soul in 2002, and Stages (featuring a series of live tracks) in 2004. Stages marked a turning point in Foster's career, as the experience of a Ruthie Foster live show was able to be experienced by a wide audience. Foster's next release was Heal Yourself in 2006, followed by the studio album The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster in 2008 (produced by Papa Mali), and The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (produced by Grammy-winning producer Chris Goldsmith), recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, in 2009, all released by Blue Corn Music.The Truth According to Ruthie Foster earned Ruthie a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. A second album of Foster's live performances, Live At Antone's (CD and DVD), was released in 2011. In 2012, Ruthie and Blue Corn released the studio album Let It Burn, which featured special guests The Blind Boys of Alabama, William Bell and the rhythm section of The Funky Meters, and was produced by Grammy-award winner John Chelew. Let It Burn earned Foster a second Grammy Nomination, this time for Best Blues Album, and was the vehicle for numerous Blues Music Awards won by Foster. Her most recent album, Promise of a Brand New Day, was released by Blue Corn Music in 2014.