Foreigner's 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' Gets Soul Makeover

04-20-2025

(Cleopatra) It's not every day that you hear a Foreigner soft rock hit transformed into a dark and moody soul heartbreaker. But it's not every day, either, that you hear a talent so vast as Bette Smith, so if you really don't know what love is... you're about to find out.

Heralded by Mojo magazine as "the next big-voiced soul sensation out of Brooklyn," Smith is indeed blessed with a voice that has been described as everything form "raspy" and "raunchy" to "sassy" and - as you'll hear here - "sweet 'n soulful."

Effortlessly fusing the soul, rock & roll, funk, blues, and gospel music she heard in her youth into something exclusively her own, she is, says GRAMMY Award-winning producer Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, James Blunt, James Bay, Sia, Corinne Bailey Rae, Tina Turner) "The real deal. Her delivery is the truth and comes straight from the heart. She is able to communicate with ease with her wonderful gift of a voice."

Releasing her first album, From The Well Of My Inner Child, in 2006 (under the name Bette Stuy, a tribute to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in which she was raised), Bette was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame just six years later, a cast-iron indication of how profound her early impact was.

Since that time, she has released three much-acclaimed albums as Bette Smith, alongside the clutch of well-received singles that introduced her to the Cleopatra records family - among them "Dance Monkey" and the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" with guitarist Kirk Fletcher, Ben E King's "Stand By Me," and "Sign Your Name" with veteran soulman Arthur Adams.

In addition, she has toured with the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the Drive-By Truckers , while Bette's summer '25 touring plans include concerts and festivals in France, Italy and Spain.