Grammy legend to play Auditorium

Bonnie Raitt, one of the music world's most enduring performers, brings her silky syncopations to the IU Auditorium tonight on her most recent concert tour. Raitt, who has been touring in support of her most recent album for more than two years, has been reaching out to new music lovers at smaller venues such as the Auditorium, as well as playing bigger halls to satisfy her most diehard fans.\nJunior Andy Proctor, assistant concerts director for Union Board, said Raitt's performance would reach out to a wide market of concertgoers.\n"We're trying to broaden the markets we appeal to," he said. "She's been a Grammy award winner, and I think her legendary status reflects well upon the University." \nRaitt has been a force in the music world for nearly 30 years. At 21, she released her self-titled debut album in 1971. She went on to release seven albums and contribute to 15 more in her first decade of performing alone. She first received broader notice with 1977's remake of Del Shannon's "Runaway" off her album Sweet Forgiveness, which landed her on the music charts for the first time. \nWidespread acclaim would have to wait until 1990, when she won four Grammy awards -- including album of the year -- for her work on Nick of Time, which many critics considered to be her breakthrough record. \n"It was like winning the lottery," she said on her Web site. "It catapulted the record to No. 1 and soon I was off on a whole new tour, this time playing to up to 20,000 a night."\nSince then, Raitt has won five more Grammys and has continued to straddle the musical spectrum with country, blues, rock and pop in her most recent albums. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year alongside Earth, Wind and Fire, Eric Clapton and James Taylor. \nHer latest album, Fundamental, combined her signature guitar stylings with a new group of musicians to get back to her roots of early 1970s blues and folk syncopation to kick off her third decade of performing. \n"In a musical world where 'everything's carefully prearranged,' Raitt has thrown a Birkenstock in the works, and the clatter sounds like life itself," said Rolling Stone writer Robert Christgau in his review of Fundamental. "After 27 years, 15 albums and nine Grammys, we should all be impressed -- and grateful -- that she felt the need."\nRaitt is the daughter of legendary Broadway star John Raitt. She was born Nov. 8, 1949 in Los Angeles, where she was raised. She has participated in many social causes in her lifetime including protesting the Vietnam War, supporting the Sierra Club and advocating nuclear disarmament. \nBonnie Raitt will perform at 7:30 p.m. today at the IU Auditorium. Tickets are available at the box office for $40, $32.50 or a $25 student price. For more information, go to www.iuauditorium.com or call 855-1103.