Betty Davis

Betty Davis (born Betty Mabry, 1945 in New York City) is an American funk, rock and soul singer and ex-model. When she turned sixteen, Betty moved to New York and met several musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. She met Miles Davis in 1967 and married him in 1968. As Miles stated in his autobiography, in addition to creating turmoil in his personal life, Betty helped him to explore music by introducing him to psychedelic rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix and funk innovator Sly Stone. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence, though seemingly no credible documentation, to support the idea that Miles named his masterpiece, jazz fusion album, Bitches Brew after Betty. After the breakup of her marriage, Betty moved to London to pursue her modeling career. She wrote music - a passion since childhood - while in the UK and returned to the US with the intention of recording songs with Santana and The Commodores. When those projects didn't work out, she organized a group of talented West Coast funk musicians and recorded the songs under her own name. Her first record, Betty Davis, was released in 1973 and her band included members of Sly and the Family Stone, Graham Central Station, The Pointer Sisters, Tower of Power and Neil Schon who came from Santana, but went on to form Journey. Davis released two more studio albums: They Say I'm Different (1974) and Nasty Gal (1975). However, none of the three albums were commercial successes. Her 1976 album Is It Love Or Desire remained unreleased until 2009. Davis remained a cult figure as a singer, due in part to her open sexual attitude, which was controversial for the time and remains confronting 30 years later. Some of her shows were boycotted and her songs not played on the radio due to pressure by religious groups. With the passage of time her records have become highly regarded by collectors of soul and funk music. Davis eventually stopped making music and returned to the city where she attended high school, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She continues to live there as a recluse from the music industry. Material from a 1979 recording session was eventually used for two further albums, Hangin' Out In Hollywood (1995) and Crashin' From Passion (1996). A greatest hits album, Anti Love: The Best of Betty Davis, was released in 2000. Excellent radio interview with Betty Davis from 2007, her first interview in 30 years