Bette (album)

This article is about the 2000 album. For the 1973 album, see Bette Midler (album).

Bette
Studio album by Bette Midler
Released	October 10, 2000
Recorded	2000
Genre	Pop, adult contemporary
Length	47:40
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Don Was, Rick Nowels, Marc Shaiman
Bette Midler chronology
Bathhouse Betty (1998) Bette (2000) Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook (2003)
Singles from Bette
"Nobody Else But You" "In These Shoes"

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link
Rolling Stone	link
Robert Christgau	link

Bette is a self-titled album by Bette Midler, released in 2000 by Warner Bros. Records (see 2000 in music). Midler covered songs on this album written by artists like Elvis Costello and Kirsty MacColl, mixed with cover versions of classic soul/R&B songs from the 1970s including "Shining Star", "Love T.K.O." and "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)".

The album only reached #69 on Billboard 200, and Warner Bros. subsequently dropped Midler from its roster in 2001 because of declining record sales. (As of October 2003, the album had sold 226,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan).

A maxi-single with several remixes of "In These Shoes" was released to promote the album. It reached No. 8 on the US Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles and No. 14 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales charts.

Track listing

1. "That's How Heartaches Are Made" (Ben Raleigh, Bob Halley) – 3:08
2. "In These Shoes" (Kirsty MacColl, Pete Glenister) – 3:41
3. "God Give Me Strength" (Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach) – 6:31
4. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" (Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong) – 3:54
5. "Love T.K.O." (Cecil Womack, Gip Noble, Jr., Linda Womack) – 4:47
6. "Moses" (Patty Griffin) – 4:31
7. "Nobody Else But You" (From the Columbia Tristar television series Bette) (Bette Midler, Marc Shaiman) – 2:53
8. "Color of Roses" (Beth Nielsen Chapman, Matt Rollings) – 4:41
9. "Bless You Child" (Billy Steinberg, Rick Nowels, Marie Claire Cremers) – 4:35
10. "When Your Life Was Low" (Will Jennings, Joe Sample) – 3:55
11. "Shining Star" (Leo Graham, Jr., Paul Richmond) – 4:49

Personnel

• Produced by Don Was
• Recorded and mixed by Ed Cherney
• "Bless You Child" produced by Don Was and Rick Nowels
• "Nobody Else But You" (From the Columbia Tristar television series Bette) produced by Marc Shaiman and Don Was Band
• Drums – Sonny Emory
• Bass – Reggie Hamilton
• Piano, Fender Rhodes, B3 – Bobby Lyle
• Keyboards, piano – Larry Cohn
• Guitar – Mike Miller
• Guitar – Dwight Sills
• Percussion – Lenny Castro

Additional musicians:

• Drums – James Gadson
• Bass – Abraham Laboriel
• Guitar – Mark Goldenberg, Paul Jackson Jr., Prince Eyango, Tim Pierce, Dean Parks
• Keyboards – Jamie Muhoberac, Rick Nowels, Greg Kurstin, Marc Shaiman
• Trumpet – Mark Isham, Darrell Leonard, Jerry Hey, Gary Grant
• Tenor saxophone – Plas Johnson, Joe Sublett, Dan Higgins, Jeey Vivino
• Baritone saxophone – Gary Herbig
• Trombone – Eric M. Jorgensen
• "Bless You Child" programming – Charles Judge, Wayne Rodrigues
• Background singers – Hilard "Sweet Pea" Atkinson, Cynthia Bass, Harry Bowens, Carlos Cuevas, Donna De Lory, Cleto Escobedo II, David Lasley, Mirley Espinoza, Nikki Harris, Don McCrary, Howard McCrary, Leon McCrary, Arnold McCuller, Esther Nicholson, Martin Padilla, Melanie Taylor, Maria Vidal
• "Nobody Else But You" arranged by Marc Shaiman and Jimmy Vivno
• Project coordinator and contractor – Shari Sutcliffe
• Assistant to Don Was: Jane Oppenhemier
• Recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood, CA; Chung King in New York, NY; Record Plant in Hollywood, CA and Sony Music Studios in New York, NY
• Mixed at Record Plant in Hollywood, CA
• "Nobody Else But You" mixed at Sony Music Studios in New York, NY
• Assistant engineers – Alan Sanderson, Eliott Blakey, Dave Ashton, Alex Olsson, Katie Teasdale, Tulio Torrinello Jr. and Andy Manganello
• Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, CA
• Mark Isham appears countesy of Columbia Records
• Art direction and design – Linda Cobb
• Photography – Greg Gorman (cover) and Norman Jean Roy
• Hair – Robert Ramos
• Make-up – Eugenia Weston
• Stylists – Michael Elsenhower, Bob Sparkman

Charts

Chart (2000)	Peak position
US Billboard 200	69