Bette of Roses
Encyclopedia
Bette of Roses is the eighth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on Atlantic Records in 1995. It became Midler's final album for the label, twenty-three years after the release of her debut and breakthrough The Divine Miss M (Midler was transferred to sister label
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

 for her next two albums, then left the Warner group completely in 2002, signing with Sony
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....

-owned Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

). The title Bette of Roses is a play on one of the tracks included; "Bed of Roses".

Bette of Roses was Midler's first full-length studio album since 1990's Some People's Lives
Some People's Lives
Some People's Lives is the seventh studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on the Atlantic Records label in 1990. It contains one of her biggest hits, "From A Distance", which won her a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991....

which had been both a critical and commercial success, peaking at #5 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s album chart, #6 in the UK and including the worldwide hit single "From A Distance
From a Distance
"From a Distance" is a song written in 1985 by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold. Some think this song was inspired by a PF Sloan song of the same name. Gold was working as a secretary at the time for Home Box Office and writing songs in her free time...

". In the following years she had released the soundtrack
For the Boys, mainly featuring jazz standards and evergreens, followed by the recording of the classic Broadway musical Gypsy
Gypsy (soundtrack)
Gypsy is the soundtrack to the television film Gypsy. Based on the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee, this made-for-TV adaptation of the 1959 musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable written by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim depicts the life and times of a stripper and her domineering mother...

. Bette of Roses marked a change in musical direction as it exclusively included contemporary material composed by songwriters in the soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...

, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 genres such as Cheryl Wheeler
Cheryl Wheeler
Cheryl Wheeler is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music, based in New England. To date, she has recorded several folk albums, and has toured extensively throughout the United States....

, Maria McKee
Maria McKee
Maria Luisa McKee is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice and her 1990 UK solo chart-topping hit, "Show Me Heaven".-Music:...

, Bonnie Hayes
Bonnie Hayes
Bonnie Hayes is an American singer/songwriter/keyboardist from California, USA.-Late 1970s and early 1980s:In the late 1970s, she founded a New Wave band called The Punts, who released a 45 RPM single, "Shelly's Boyfriend" , b/w "Rochambeau," which received considerable airplay in the SF market...

, Marc Jordan
Marc Jordan
Marc Jordan , is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, and Josh Groban...

, Tonio K
Tonio K
Tonio K. is an American singer/songwriter who has released eight albums. His songs have been recorded by Al Green, Aaron Neville, Burt Bacharach, Bonnie Raitt, Chicago, Wynonna Judd and Vanessa Williams...

, Andy Hill
Andy Hill (composer)
Andy Hill is a British music producer and songwriter who scored many hits during the 1980s and 90s...

, Pete Sinfield and Roger Cook
Roger Cook (songwriter)
Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...

. "In This Life
In This Life (Collin Raye song)
"In This Life" is the title of a song written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country music singer Collin Raye that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

" had previously been recorded by country singer Collin Raye
Collin Raye
Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960,Although multiple online sources all indicate Raye's date of birth as 1959, Raye's MySpace lists his date of birth as 1960. Furthermore, the 2004 Deseret News article cited in this article indicates the singer as...

 on his 1992 album of the same name. According to Allmusic's review Midler is said to have personally chosen the track listing from "hundreds and hundreds of songs". Just like Some People's Lives the album was chiefly produced by Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco, and country...

, but the arrangements were consequently also more guitarbased and the soundscape altogether more acoustic than synthezised, the songs chosen were mainly midtempo ballads, like "Bottomless", "As Dreams Go By" and "I Believe In You", or country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 influenced tracks, like "I Know This Town" and "The Last Time", and the set as a whole was geared towards the American adult contemporary and adult Top 40 markets rather than the pop or dance charts.

Although Bette of Roses met with generally positive reviews on its release it proved to be Midler's lowest charting studio album since 1983's rock and new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 influenced
No Frills, peaking at #45 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s album chart and #55 in the UK. This resulted in the release of a radically remixed dance version of Maria McKee's country rock ballad "To Deserve You", which more or less only retained the lead vocals and a sample of the spoken line "I would die for you" from the album version, which had been arranged by the composer herself. The original backing track was replaced with a 123 BPM
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 mid 90s dance production in the style of house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 remixers like Shep Pettibone
Shep Pettibone
Robert E. Pettibone, Jr. is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul...

, Frankie Knuckles
Frankie Knuckles
Frankie Knuckles is an American DJ, record producer and remix artist. He played an important role in developing house music as a Chicago DJ in the 1980s and he helped to popularize house music in the 1990s, with his work as a producer and remixer...

 and Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...

 - although it in fact had been remixed and re-produced by Arif Mardin himself. The promo video was also re-edited and re-released, then using the dance remix instead of the Bette of Roses recording. In Europe, Australia and New Zealand the remix single was issued to promote Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

/Warner Music's expanded re-release of Midler's 1993 hits compilation Experience the Divine
Experience the Divine
Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American singer Bette Midler, featuring many of her best-known songs. The fourteen track compilation was released on Atlantic Records in 1993....

- on which it was placed as the opening track - instead of the actual Bette of Roses album. Although notably different to Midler's original recording of the song, and indeed the whole Bette of Roses album project as such, the disco remix of "To Deserve You" proved to be one of the biggest commercial successes of her musical career as the track became a major dancefloor hit in the US in early 1996, reaching #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

 chart. It however became Midler's final collaboration with the Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 label.

Midler can be seen performing two tracks from the overlooked Bette of Roses album in the 1997 Diva Las Vegas
Diva Las Vegas
The Divine Miss "M" takes center stage at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for this performance of raucous music and comedy show. Featuring Ms. Midler's signature mix of heavenly singing, bawdy comedy, and brazen costumes, Diva Las Vegas is proof that Midler has the right to refer to herself as 'The...

concert documentary, the bluesy "To Comfort You" and the title track "Bed of Roses".

The Bette of Roses album was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2001, six years after its original release.

Track listing

  1. "I Know This Town" (Cheryl Wheeler
    Cheryl Wheeler
    Cheryl Wheeler is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music, based in New England. To date, she has recorded several folk albums, and has toured extensively throughout the United States....

    ) - 3:54
  2. "In This Life
    In This Life (Collin Raye song)
    "In This Life" is the title of a song written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country music singer Collin Raye that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

    " (Mike Reid, Allen Shamblin
    Allen Shamblin
    Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Texas.After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a song writer. He supported...

    ) - 4:11
  3. "Bottomless" (Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes is an American singer/songwriter/keyboardist from California, USA.-Late 1970s and early 1980s:In the late 1970s, she founded a New Wave band called The Punts, who released a 45 RPM single, "Shelly's Boyfriend" , b/w "Rochambeau," which received considerable airplay in the SF market...

    ) - 5:18
  4. "To Comfort You" (Ian Thomas
    Ian Thomas (Canadian musician)
    Ian Thomas is a singer, songwriter, actor and author. He is younger brother to famed comedian and actor Dave Thomas.-Career:...

    ) - 4:44
  5. "To Deserve You" (Maria McKee
    Maria McKee
    Maria Luisa McKee is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice and her 1990 UK solo chart-topping hit, "Show Me Heaven".-Music:...

    ) - 5:16
  6. "The Last Time" (Maria McKee) - 4:52
  7. "Bed Of Roses" (Bonnie Hayes) - 4:12
  8. "The Perfect Kiss" (Scott Tibbs, Marc Jordan
    Marc Jordan
    Marc Jordan , is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, and Josh Groban...

    ) - 3:43
  9. "As Dreams Go By" (Andy Hill
    Andy Hill (composer)
    Andy Hill is a British music producer and songwriter who scored many hits during the 1980s and 90s...

    , Pete Sinfield) - 5:09
  10. "It's Too Late" (Tonio K
    Tonio K
    Tonio K. is an American singer/songwriter who has released eight albums. His songs have been recorded by Al Green, Aaron Neville, Burt Bacharach, Bonnie Raitt, Chicago, Wynonna Judd and Vanessa Williams...

    , Bob Thiele Jr., Bonnie Hayes) - 4:42
  11. "I Believe In You" (Sam Hogin, Roger Cook
    Roger Cook (songwriter)
    Roger Cook is an English songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.-Early life:Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England...

    ) - 4:34

Personnel and production

  • Bette Midler
    Bette Midler
    Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

     - lead vocals, harmony vocals
  • Lani Groves - background vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

  • Ula Hedwig - background vocals
  • Vaneese Thomas - background vocals
  • Angela Cappelli - background vocals
  • Rachele Cappelli - background vocals
  • Michael Baird - drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Joe Mardin
    Joe Mardin
    Joe Mardin is a music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of producer Arif Mardin...

     - drums, background vocals
  • Paulinho Da Costa
    Paulinho Da Costa
    Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...

     - percussion
  • Michael O'Reilly - guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Dean Parks
    Dean Parks
    Dean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Ft. Worth, TX.-Albums:Dean was member of The North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. Dean is best-known through his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan...

     - guitar
  • Danny Jacob - guitar
  • Michael Landau
    Michael Landau
    Michael Landau is a prolific session musician and guitarist who has played on a large number of albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Seal, James Taylor, Helen Watson, Richard Marx, Steve Perry, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis...

     - guitar
  • Jay Dee Maness - steel guitar
    Steel guitar
    Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...

  • Howard "Buzz" Feiten
    Buzz Feiten
    Howard "Buzz" Feiten is a North American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and session musician.He is best known as a lead and rhythm electric guitarist, and for having patented a unique, scientifically designed tuning system which re-configures its stringboard / neck for more accurate tonality...

     - guitar, rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    , tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

  • Jerry Barnes - bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , background vocals
  • Michael Visceglia - bass
  • Tom "T-Bone" Wolk - bass
  • Reggie Hamilton
    Reggie Hamilton
    Reggie Hamilton is an American session bass guitar player born in New York City.Growing up in a musical New York household, Hamilton received a guitar at age five from his mother. He soon grew attracted to the sound of the lower end, and switched to bass guitar; acclaimed New York bassist was his...

     - bass
  • Abraham Laboriel
    Abraham Laboriel
    Abraham Laboriel, Sr. is a Mexican bassist of Garifuna descent who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. Guitar Player Magazine described him as "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the father of drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and of producer, songwriter, and...

     - bass
  • Bobby Lyle
    Bobby Lyle
    Bobby Lyle is a jazz, soul jazz, and smooth jazz pianist. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee but grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota in a home near the corner of Park Avenue and 32nd Street. His father, reportedly, was a sports writer for the Star Tribune newspaper.He had his first gig at 16 and...

     - piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Robbie Buchanan
    Robbie Buchanan
    Robbie Buchanan is a Canadian keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer.Buchanan began playing the piano at the age of 6. He acquired his first paying gig as a pianist at the age of 12 playing 6 nights a week in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. While still a teenager, Buchanan joined a band...

     - piano, keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , synthesizer
    Synthesizer
    A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

    , programming
  • Robbie Kondor
    Robbie Kondor
    Robbie Kondor is an American composer, session musician, and arranger. He has worked as a composer on The Significant Other, Ball In The House, Sally Jessy Ralphael, Happiness , The Suburbans , Forever Fabulous ,Drawing Angel , Series 7: The Contenders , Home Delivery and Equality U...

     - organ
    Organ (music)
    The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

    , electric piano
    Electric piano
    An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...

    , keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , synthesizer
    Synthesizer
    A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

    , programming
  • Steve Skinner - keyboards, synthesizer, programming
  • Larry Cohn - synthesizer
  • Marc Mann - programming
  • Jimmy Bralower - drum programming
  • Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes is an American singer/songwriter/keyboardist from California, USA.-Late 1970s and early 1980s:In the late 1970s, she founded a New Wave band called The Punts, who released a 45 RPM single, "Shelly's Boyfriend" , b/w "Rochambeau," which received considerable airplay in the SF market...

     - programming
  • Chris Botti
    Chris Botti
    Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...

     - trumpet
    Trumpet
    The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

  • Shelley Woodworth - oboe
    Oboe
    The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

  • Gene Orloff - violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

    , concert master

Production

  • Arif Mardin
    Arif Mardin
    Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco, and country...

     - record producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

    , musical arranger
  • Marc Mann - producer
  • Robbie Buchanan
    Robbie Buchanan
    Robbie Buchanan is a Canadian keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer.Buchanan began playing the piano at the age of 6. He acquired his first paying gig as a pianist at the age of 12 playing 6 nights a week in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. While still a teenager, Buchanan joined a band...

     - producer, arranger
  • Robbie Kondor
    Robbie Kondor
    Robbie Kondor is an American composer, session musician, and arranger. He has worked as a composer on The Significant Other, Ball In The House, Sally Jessy Ralphael, Happiness , The Suburbans , Forever Fabulous ,Drawing Angel , Series 7: The Contenders , Home Delivery and Equality U...

     - producer, arranger
  • Steve Skinner - producer, arranger
  • Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes
    Bonnie Hayes is an American singer/songwriter/keyboardist from California, USA.-Late 1970s and early 1980s:In the late 1970s, she founded a New Wave band called The Punts, who released a 45 RPM single, "Shelly's Boyfriend" , b/w "Rochambeau," which received considerable airplay in the SF market...

     - producer, arranger
  • Howard "Buzz" Feiten - associate producer, arranger
  • Maria McKee
    Maria McKee
    Maria Luisa McKee is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice and her 1990 UK solo chart-topping hit, "Show Me Heaven".-Music:...

     - arranger
  • Bruce Brody - arranger
  • Andy Grassi - engineer
  • Michael O'Reilly - engineer
  • Jack Joseph Puig
    Jack Joseph Puig
    Jack Joseph Puig is a Grammy Award-winning music engineer and producer with a long track record of successful productions, including the mid-1990s production of Tonic. Puig also worked with Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Green Day, The Counting Crows, No Doubt,...

    - engineer
  • George Marino - mastering
  • Recorded at The New Hit Factory and Right Track Recording, New York; Andora Studios, Conway Studios and Record One, California.
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