Bette Midler
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Bette Midler sings rock 'n' roll, torch songs, rhythm 'n' blues, just plain old time blues, sophisticated show tunes, and lots of nostalgic musical trash, turning through sheer talent brassy oldies into pure gold. 

Skipping across the stage in wedgies or plastic sling-backs, punctuating words with fingers tracing designs in the air, Bette creates choreography out of body-English. The  tiny (5-foot, 1-inch), red-haired fireball of energy is enthusiastically and aptly called "The Divine Miss M" by her fans. Besides being divine, she's also sexy, sassy, sad, bawdy, outrageous, funny, impeccably musical and above all approachably human. 

With the release of her new Atlantic Records album -- appropriately titled "The Divine Miss M” -- and her appearances on the Johnny Carson Show, the whole country as well as her loyal New York fans now know how original a performer, how infectious a personality Bette Midler is. She challenges an audience, invites it to enjoy itself, tantalizes it into feeling emotion and stepping out from its protective shell. 

Bette is from Hawaii, which is an unusual place for a Jewish girl to be from, but then Bette is a very unusual girl -- Jewish or otherwise, Her father was a house painter with an incredible spirit of adventure, which prompted him to move the family from New Jersey to Oahu. 

Growing up in Hawaii, Bette -- who was named after her mother's favorite actress -- spent a lot of time going to movie musicals, the only films her mother allowed her to see.  After working a short time in a pineapple cannery, she landed a job as a movie extra playing a missionary in ''Hawaii. It paid $350, and with that money Bette went off to New York to become an actress. She began singing and dancing because she thought it was the best way to get started in a career as a serious dramatic actress. 

After the usual stay-alive jobs of typing and filing at Columbia University and selling gloves at Stern's department store, Bette appeared at the La Mama in Tim Eyen's play "Miss Nefertiti Regrets" and Jewish revues in the Catskills.   

On Broadway, she landed a chorus job in "Fiddler on the Roof," shortly  graduating to the role of Tzeitel. After three years as Tevye's daughter, she played in "Salvation" off-Broadway and appeared as the Acid Queen in the Seattle production of the rock opera "Tommy'' 

When the Continental Baths in New York began special Saturday night shows, Bette was asked to perform there. She was a sensation, and shortly had a fantastic underground cult following. Word soon spread above ground, and she performed with great success at Upstairs at the Downstairs in New York, Mister Kelley's in Chicago, and The Sahara in Las Vegas (with Johnny Carson).  At the Troubadour in Los Angeles, she caused a major sensation among the film and music industry people who came to see her. Bette has appeared at Carnegie Hall and two New Year's Eve concerts at Lincoln Center, which repeated the smashing success she has had in clubs and television.