Betty Davis | Artist
Betty Davis (Maybry) was an American funk and soul singer and model born 1945 in Durham, North Carolina. She was one of the most influential voices of the funk era in the '70s and a performer who was known for her controversial sexually oriented lyrics and performance style. Mayby was married to Miles Davis between 1967-69 and influenced his music by introducing him to Jimi Hendrix and Sly stone. When she was 16, Betty left home for New York City, enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Technology while living with her aunt. She soaked up the Greenwich Village culture and folk music of the early 1960s. She associated herself with frequenters of the Cellar, a hip uptown club where young and stylish people congregated. It was a multiracial, artsy crowd of models, design students, actors, and singers. She also worked as a model, appearing in photo spreads in Seventeen, Ebony and Glamour. In New York, she met musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Her musical career started when se befriended soul singer Lou Courtney, which led to her securing a contract with Don Costa, who had written arrangements for Frank Sinatra. As Betty Mabry, she recorded "Get Ready For Betty" b/w "I'm Gonna Get My Baby Back" in 1964 for Costa's DCP International label. Around the same time, she recorded a single, "I'll Be There", with Roy Arlington for Safice Records, under the joint name "Roy and Betty". Her first professional gig came after she wrote "Uptown (to Harlem)" for The Chambers Brothers, however Mabry continued to focused on her modeling career. In 1968, when she was in a relationship with Hugh Masekela, she recorded several songs for Columbia Records, with Masekela doing the arrangements. Two of them were released as a single: "Live, Love, Learn" b/w "It's My Life". Her relationship with Miles Davis began soon after her breakup from Masekela. She featured on the cover of Miles Davis's 1968 album Filles de Kilimanjaro, which included his tribute to her, "Mademoiselle Mabry", and she introduced him to psychedelic rock and the flamboyant clothing styles of the era. Between 1973-75 Betty Davis released three top-notch Funk albums: Betty Davis (1973), They Say I'm Different (1974), and Nasty Gal (1975). The 2009 archival collection Is it Love or Desire is also recommended. Davis' music has been featured in television series including Orange Is the New Black, Girlboss, Mixed-ish, High Fidelity, and Pistol. As her career waned, Davis completed another album for Island Records; Is it Love or Desire in 1976, which was shelved and unreleased for 33 years, before being dropped by the label. She then spent a year in Japan, spending time with silent monks. Davis's father died in 1980, which prompted her return to the US to live with her mother in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Davis struggled to overcome her father's death, and subsequent mental illness. She acknowledged that she suffered a setback at the time, but stayed in her family home, accepted the end of her career, and lived a quiet life. Guitar supremo Carlos Santana recalled Betty as "indomitable – she couldn't be tamed. Musically, philosophically and physically, she was extreme and attractive."
Artist Website: wikipedia/Betty_Davis
Featured Albums: Betty Davis
Related Artists: Miles Davis
