Betty Davis, Queen of Funk, dies at 77
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Trailblazing funk musician Betty Davis has died at the age of 77.
The star, who was once married to jazz legend Miles Davis , died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to a statement on her official website.
Davis died in Homestead, Pennsylvania, where she’d lived since childhood, the statement reads.
Davis' close friend and collaborator Danielle Maggio told Fox News Digital that the singer died of natural causes.
Most known as the Queen of Funk, Davis was well known for her eccentric and highly sexual performances. Her self-titled debut album was first released in 1973 and was followed with two more records including “They Say I’m Different,” released in 1974 and “Nasty Gal,” in 1975.
Davis was known for her songs “Anti Love Song,” “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” and “Nasty Gal.” She was also known for writing “Uptown (to Harlem)” by the Chambers Brothers, which was featured heavily in the 2021 documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).”
Davis married Miles Davis in 1968. She was featured on the cover of the jazz legend’s “Filles de Kilimanjaro” album, released the same year. She was also the inspiration for the song “Mademoiselle Mabry (Miss Mabry),” as her birth name was Betty Mabry.
Their marriage lasted only a year, but per Rolling Stone, Davis is credited with introducing her husband to modern rock music , which prompted a change in his sound.
Davis released her self-titled debut album in 1973, her sophomore album “They Say I’m Different” the following year and “Nasty Gal” in 1975.
According to Rolling Stone, she then bowed out of the music industry, temporarily living in Japan and spending time with silent monks.
Her music gained a cult following and influenced artists like Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu . Renewed interest in her music sparked reissues of her music, including the first-ever printing of a fourth album that went unreleased in 1976.
According to her website, Davis' final and favorite album “Crashin’ From Passion,” will be released by Light in the Attic Records late in 2022.
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Betty Davis, Funk Legend And Ex-Wife Of Miles Davis, Dies At 77
Funk legend Betty Davis died at 77 from natural causes, according to her close friend Danielle Maggio. (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
Funk legend Betty Davis died from natural causes on Wednesday, her close friend Danielle Maggio confirmed to Rolling Stone. She was 77 years old.
The bulk of Davis’ career took place between 1964 and 1975, but she inspired later artists including Erykah Badu, Macy Gray and Janelle Monáe. She married jazz legend Miles Davis in 1968 and introduced him to the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
Davis stayed away from the public eye for decades, but resurfaced in 2017 when a documentary on her life, “Betty – They Say I’m Different,” made its debut. In 2018, she told The Washington Post that the sexually charged nature of her music was one of the many reasons it was boycotted by the NAACP.
“I thought they were for the advancement of colored people, correct? But they were stopping my advancement,” she told the outlet. “They were stopping me from making a living. I wrote songs about sex, and that was sort of unheard of then. So that’s what I think my influence was. It was very sexually oriented.”
The vocalist’s music has been sampled by Ice Cube, Method Man and Lenny Kravitz.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
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Betty Davis, funk pioneer and fashion icon, dies at 77
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Betty Davis, funk pioneer and fashion icon, dies at 77
The incandescent, influential funk musician Betty Davis, who made a string of albums in the mid-1970s that helped to shape stylish, Afrofuturist strains of funk and hip-hop, died on Wednesday in Homestead, Penn., where she had lived since childhood, according to a statement from her record label. Danielle Maggio, a friend of Davis and a producer of Betty Davis: They Say I’m Different, told NPR that she died of cancer after being diagnosed only last week. Davis was 77.
Born Betty Mabry, she attended New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and later became a model, working with designers and appearing in magazines like Seventeen and Glamour. All the while, she was tinkering with a musical fusion of rock, soul, funk and blues.
In 1973, Betty Davis put out her powerful self-titled debut solo record. In the studio, she wrote, arranged and produced her own music – a rarity in her time, especially for a Black woman. On the record, her voice was confident and sexy; it demanded your attention. She released two more records: 1974’s They Say I’m Different and 1975’s Nasty Gal. In 2009, Light in the Attic Records released her record Is It Love or Desire?, originally recorded in 1976.
In 1968 she married Miles Davis, who she exposed to her favorite music including Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Sly Stone. Their marriage didn’t last long. Miles Davis was known to be an abusive partner – in a 2010 interview with Neil Spencer of The Observer, Betty said that she and Miles “broke up because of his violent temper.”
By the end of the ’70s, Davis had largely exited the public eye. As extroverted as she was on her records and on stage, Davis was far more reserved off stage. She didn’t give a lot of interviews, but in one she gave in 1974, with an Army Reserve DJ named Al Gee, she talked about making slow, deliberate choices in the music business.
“I’ve known a lot of musicians and I know what they’ve gone through,” she said. “I know a lot of pain that they’ve gone through. And so I really wanted to get into the business the right way. I really had to be say, ‘OK, this is what I want to do, and this is why I want to do it.'”
Davis’ music would go on to influence a new generation of artists, who found inspiration in her funk pioneer spirit. “I love Betty Davis,” artist Janelle Monáe told Complex in a 2018 interview. “She’s free, and she’s one of the godmothers of redefining how black women in music can be viewed. I respect her a lot and she’s opened up a lot of doors for artists like myself.”
In 2007, the reissue label Light in the Attic began a campaign of rereleasing Davis' albums, including the material she released in the 1970s as well as unreleased recordings. In a statement distributed after her death, the label said it has plans to reissue her final album, Crashin' From Passion, later in 2022.
It’s hard to imagine an Erykah Badu or an OutKast without Betty Davis. And she was powerful enough to have that decades-long reach all on her own terms.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
The funk singer Betty Davis has died. She was a genre-defining figure whose career burned bright but also burned fast. Most of her work was released in the early 1970s before she disappeared from the public eye.
Davis died this morning just outside of Pittsburgh after being diagnosed with cancer just a week ago. She was 77. NPR’s Andrew Limbong has this appreciation.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HE WAS A BIG FREAK”)
BETTY DAVIS: He was a big freak.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Betty Davis' music was powerful. In the studio, she wrote, arranged and produced her own music, something rare back then, particularly for a Black woman. On the record, her voice was confident, sexy. It demanded your attention.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HE WAS A BIG FREAK”)
DAVIS: (Singing) When I was his woman, I pleased him, I’d lead him to the tip. When I was his mistress, ooh, ooh, I gave him cheap thrills.
LIMBONG: Born Betty Mabry, she grew up in Homestead, Pa., just outside of Pittsburgh. After graduating from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, she became a model working with designers and getting featured in magazines like Seventeen and Glamour, all the while tinkering with a musical fusion of rock, soul, funk and blues.
In 1968, she married Miles Davis and introduced him to the stuff she was listening to - Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Sly Stone. Their marriage didn’t last long. Davis was known to be an abusive partner. A few years later, he’d put out the jazz fusion classic “B****** Brew.” Meanwhile, in 1973, Davis put out her first solo record.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STEPPIN IN HER I. MILLER SHOES”)
DAVIS: (Singing) She was used and abused by many men. I ask the guitar, I’ll find out if he’ll tell you why. Tell her.
LIMBONG: But as extroverted as she was on the records and on stage, Betty Davis had a certain duality to her. In a 2017 documentary about her titled “Betty: They Say I’m Different,” a friend of hers from the ’70s, Winona Williams, talks about knowing Betty Davis the person.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “BETTY: THEY SAY I’M DIFFERENT”)
WINONA WILLIAMS: Betty was always this lady with flair and class and just ever so fashionable.
LIMBONG: Then she got invited to one of Betty Davis' shows.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NASTY GAL”)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) I’m gonna run it down to y’all.
DAVIS: Tell them anything you want.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “BETTY: THEY SAY I’M DIFFERENT”)
WILLIAMS: The raunchiness of these songs that she was belting out and this deep gravelly voice, I was just taken aback. This is not Betty (laughter). This is not Betty. Yeah, so her alter ego was on that stage.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NASTY GAL”)
DAVIS: (Singing) You used to love it, oh, to ride my broom, honey.
LIMBONG: Off stage, Betty Davis was far more reserved. She didn’t give a lot of interviews, but she did do one in 1974 with an Army Reserve DJ named Al Gee. And she talked about making slow, deliberate choices in the music biz.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAVIS: I’ve known a lot of musicians, and I know what they’ve gone through, and I know a lot of pain that they’ve gone through. And so I really wanted to get into the business the right way. You know, I really had to be - say, OK, this is what I want to do, and this is why I want to do it.
LIMBONG: It’s hard to imagine an Erykah Badu or an OutKast without Betty Davis, and she was powerful enough to have that decades-long reach all on her own terms.
Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STEPPIN IN HER I. MILLER SHOES”)
DAVIS: (Singing) Steppin' high in her I. Miller shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) She was steppin' in her I. Miller shoes. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Betty Davis, hard funk pioneer, dies aged 77
Betty Davis, a bold and pioneering funk singer, model and songwriter of the 1960s and 70s, has died aged 77.
Davis died early on Wednesday after a brief illness, according to Danielle Maggio, associate producer of the 2017 documentary Betty: They Say I’m Different.
Sometimes referred to as “Madonna before Madonna”, Davis was the rare woman to make funk albums in the 1970s, and her three albums from that time were showcases for her fearless personality and sexuality and insistence on control of her material and her image.
Her records sold modestly at the time, but their impact has been cited often in the decades following.
Davis dated Eric Clapton (pictured), as well as Robert Palmer and other rock stars (Ian West/PA)
Born Betty Mabry in Durham, North Carolina, she was still a teenager when she moved to New York City in the early 1960s and enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology.
She would eventually find work as a model for Seventeen and Glamour among other magazines and would meet Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and numerous other musicians.
She was also releasing her own work, including the singles The Cellar and Get Ready for Betty and she wrote Uptown (to Harlem) for the Chambers Brothers.
She dated Eric Clapton and Robert Palmer among other rock stars, but was best known for her time with Miles Davis. They were only together for a brief time in the 1960s: He alleged — and she denied — that she had an affair with Hendrix.
But her influence on Miles and the future of jazz lasted far longer. He would cite her for opening him up to the sounds of Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone among others, leading to his classic 1970 album Bitches Brew (a title she has said was her idea), which helped launch the genre of jazz fusion.
“His world was progressive jazz, plus he was a lover of classical music, so there were lots of things he hadn’t picked up on,” she told the Guardian in 2010.
She released no new music for decades, but she was not forgotten. Betty Davis and other 70s albums were reissued and her music was heard on Orange Is the New Black and other TV series.
In 2019, she broke her long silence with A Little Bit Hot Tonight, a funky blend of Eastern and Western influences which she wrote, arranged and produced and asked Maggio to perform.
“It was a wonderful, surreal experience,” Maggio told The Associated Press.
“As an ethnomusicologist who writes about Betty it was amazing to see her music making process first hand. She taught me the song and taught all the musicians their parts. She was very hands on and was an amazing producer.”
Feminist funk pioneer Betty Davis dead at age 77
The cover of Betty Davis’s landmark 1973 debut album. (Photos: Light in the Attic Records)
Funk trailblazer Betty Davis has died of natural causes, according to Davis’s close friend, ethnomusicologist Danielle Maggio, who confirmed the news to Rolling Stone Wednesday morning. Betty, the ex-wife of jazz great Miles Davis and a legend in her own right, was 77.
A flamboyant futuristic funk diva, Betty vanished from the scene for 40 years, but the cult figure’s brief yet boundary-breaking discography has been cited as an influence on Beyoncé, Rick James, OutKast, Erykah Badu, Lil Kim, Kelis, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and various rappers who have sampled her (Ice Cube, Talib Kweli, Ludacris).
Known for her unapologetically raunchy lyrics and extreme performance style, Betty was banned from U.S. television, radio, and many concert venues due to pressure by religious groups and the NAACP, but she later came to be hailed as a feminist pioneer and visionary who was ahead of her time. In his 1990 biography, Miles Davis himself wrote, “If Betty were singing today she’d be something like Madonna, something like Prince, only as a woman. She was the beginning of all that when she was singing as Betty Davis.”
Betty Davis (Photo: Robert Brenner)
Betty Davis was born Betty Mabry on July 26, 1945 in Durham, N.C., grew up in Pittsburgh, and began writing songs at age 12. At age 16, she moved to New York City, where she attended fashion school, worked as a model, and immersed herself in the Greenwich Village music scene of the early ‘60s. It was there that she met soul singer Lou Courtney, who produced her first single, “The Cellar,” in 1963. She continued to release music, but got her first real break in 1967, when she penned the hit song “Uptown (to Harlem)” for the Chambers Brothers.
Betty met Miles Davis in 1966; the two began dating in 1968 and married in September of that year. The marriage only lasted until 1969 (in his autobiography, Miles, who was 19 years older than Betty, said she was “too young and wild” for him), but Betty became a major influence on Miles’s art — turning him on to her friends Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone and other popular psychedelic music of the late-‘60s counterculture era, and laying the groundwork for his 1970 landmark LP Bitches Brew. She appeared on the cover of Miles’s 1968 album Filles de Kilimanjaro, which featured one track, “Mademoiselle Mabry,” named after her.
Story continues
After her marriage to Miles ended, Betty temporarily relocated to London, where T. Rex glam-rock star Marc Bolan encouraged her to keep writing her own material. When she returned to the States, she focused on her solo career, finally releasing her self-titled debut album in 1973. The explosive record featured such luminaries as Greg Errico and Larry Graham from Sly Stone’s band, Neal Schon and Michael Carabello from Santana, the Pointer Sisters, and Sylvester, and is hailed as a funk masterpiece.
Betty Davis was entirely written and arranged by Betty; according to the 2017 documentary Betty: They Say I’m Different, she was the first Black female recording artist to perform and write all of her own music and manage herself. During her career, she famously turned down a songwriting deal with Motown Records because she would not have control or ownership of her material, and she passed on a chance to have Eric Clapton produce one of her albums because she found his style too conservative.
Unfortunately, neither Betty Davis nor its follow-ups, 1974’s They Say I’m Different and 1975’s Nasty Gal, were commercial hits, and after some aborted recording sessions in the late ‘70s, Betty stopped making music for four decades and retreated from the public eye. Material from her 1979 recording sessions eventually surfaced on two bootleg albums, Crashin' From Passion and Hangin' Out in Hollywood, in the mid-’90s, but there was a new surge of appreciation for her artistry after her first three studio albums were reissued by Light in the Attic Records in 2007. In 2009, Light in the Attic finally put out Betty’s shelved fourth studio album, Is It Love or Desire?, which had been recorded in 1976 with Herbie Hancock, Chuck Rainey, and Alphonse Mouzon and showcased some of her finest work.
In 2017, Betty was the subject of the film Betty: They Say I’m Different, on which her friend Maggio was an associate producer. In 2019, Betty released “A Little Bit Hot Tonight,” her first new song in more than 40 years, which was performed by Maggio.