“I don’t do music because I want to – I do it because I have to.”

That statement goes a long way to explaining the phenomenal career of Bonnie Raitt. She’ll be appearing in Victoria at the Royal Theatre on June 17.

Just for context, Raitt is the recipient of more awards than most artists could ever imagine, with her nominations for Best Female Vocal Performance dating back to 1980 and continuing over the years, right to being awarded Song of the Year, Best American Roots Song and Best Americana Performance in 2023. Raitt also earned an Icon Award at Billboard Women In Music Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and her breakthrough album, ‘Nick of Time’, was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Those celebrations of talent tend to only go to folks whose passion is all about the music.

“Art isn’t a contest. We’re all about being the sum of all the wonderful music and influences that we grew up with. In my case, I had a double barrel of great singing with my dad being one of the great Broadway singers. So, I had a house where I was exposed with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and so many wonderful singers on that end,” Raitt said.

“I fell in love with folk music early on with Joan Baez, but I would say that specifically my biggest influences were, and will always be, Aretha Franklin, and I loved Etta James’s records.”

Raitt has also credited Judy Collins with steering her toward the “folkier” side of music.

“I really never had any plans to be a singer, but I knew what I liked.”

However that career came about, there’s no doubt that Raitt has had an enormous influence on the music scene over the years.

With the release of “Just Like That” in 2022, her 21st album, this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has continued to engage and enthrall audiences around the world. The title of that album comes from the line in one of her original songs, Just like that.

“It’s really fitting because there’s never been a time that made me look around and say, ‘Nobody saw this coming’, where all of a sudden, everything shifted.”

Raitt is also a celebrity who has passionately supported a variety of activist causes going back to her dedication of her 1972 album Give It Up to the people of North Vietnam. Since that time, she has supported causes that range from providing musical instruments to children in public schools to raising awareness about peace initiatives like the No Nukes Group. She has endorsed John Edwards, Bernie Sanders and recently showed up at one of Steven Colbert’s final shows to show her support.

“I just want to be as good a person as I can be.”

As far as her music goes, Raitt acknowledges that she’s been guided and influenced by some of the giants of the industry.

“I’m certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who’ve ever lived, but to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their marriages, and talked to their kids.”

In the end though, she measures her own success, not through awards or acknowledgments, but by the reaction of her audience.

“A great song doesn’t need fancy production, it just needs heart. I measure success by getting to make another record and being able to come back to the same town and play again, cause you sold out the last time.”

With that metric in mind, we should almost certainly be seeing Raitt back in Victoria at some time in the future.

Tickets for the Bonnie Raitt concert can be found at https://www.rmts.bc.ca/production-detail-pages/2026-royal-theatre/bonnie-raitt/.