Everett was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States. She began playing the piano and singing gospel music in church at the age of nine. She moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1957 to pursue a career in secular music. She recorded for various small local Chicago soullabels, before she was signed in 1963 by Calvin Carter, A&R musical director of fast-growing independent label Vee-Jay Records. An initial single failed, but her second Vee-Jay release, a bluesy version of "You're No Good", just missed the U.S. top 50. Her next single, the catchy "The Shoop Shoop Song ", was her biggest solo hit. The song climbed to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made #1 on the Cashbox R&B chart for three weeks. Her other hits included "I Can't Hear You", "Getting Mighty Crowded", and several duets with Jerry Butler, including "Let It Be Me", which made the US Top 5 in 1964 and was another Cashbox R&B number 1. After Vee-Jay folded in 1966, she recorded for several other labels, including ABC, Fantasy, and Uni. After an unsuccessful year with ABC, a move to Uni brought another major success in 1969 with "There'll Come A Time", co-written by producer and lead singer of The Chi-Lites, Eugene Record. This rose to #2 in the Billboard R&B listing and topped the Cashbox chart. However, most of her later work would not match the success she had with Vee-Jay, although there were other R&B hits such as "It's Been A Long Time" and "I Got To Tell Somebody", which re-united her with Calvin Carter in 1970. The 1975 album Happy Endings had arrangements by Gene Page and includes a cover of "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. Her final recording came out in 1980, again produced by Carter. Her awards include the BMI Pop Award and the BMI R&B Award.
Later career
Until her death, Everett resided with her sister in South Beloit, Illinois, where she was involved in the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and the churches of the Fountain of Life and New Covenant. In 1989, a handler of Everett brought her to the attention of Worldwide TMA, a management consulting firm in Chicago. Under the direction of Steve Arvey and Scott Pollack, former Chairman of The Chicago Songwriters Association, the firm started work on reviving Everett's singing career. Within a year she contracted with Pollack taking on all management decisions and management financing. In 1990, her signature hit, "The Shoop Shoop Song," had been used in the movie Mermaids for the end credits, and recorded by the star of the film, Cher. This reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart and charted well elsewhere in Europe. An article appeared in a British Sunday newspaper The Mail On Sunday with the headline reading; "Betty Everett Gets Her 'Cher' Of A Hit". Fans were calling the London radio stations asking for the original to be played instead. Everett had secured an indie label deal in the US and a new single "Don't Cry Now" had been recorded, penned by Larry Weiss. In connection to the preceding events, Everett was booked and aired a 20-minute appearance on the hit TV show at the time, Current Affair. She was then booked to star at the 1991 Chicago Blues Festival which aired live worldwide on over 400 PBS radio channels, marking Everett's last live appearance on radio. Later that year, two concerts were booked for consecutive weekends in late October 1991; one at Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, the other at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. All had been arranged through management and Charles McMillan, Jerry Butler's longtime friend and personal manager. However, Everett declined to show for the engagements. Despite exposure, she was unable to resurrect her career because of health problems. She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Hall Of Fame in 1996 and, about four years later, made her last public appearance on the PBS special Doo Wop 51, along with her former singing partner, Jerry Butler. This, according to The Independent, was met with raves about the brief reunion where she "brought the house down". Butler, in his autobiography, Only The Strong Survive, compared Betty with Gladys Knight as a singer in that she seemed to do everything so effortlessly. Everett died at her home in Beloit, Wisconsin, on August 19, 2001; she was 61. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Betty Everett among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
