Musical Style: Betty Davis

When Light In The Attic Records re-released Betty Davis' 1973 album, They Say I'm Different, a couple years ago I was captivated by her music; it's great music to play while cooking dinner.  I then found out that she's originally from Durham, North Carolina--my neck of the woods--and I'm a huge fan of most artistic people who hail from NC (also see Nina Simone, Ava Gardner, Edward R. Murrow, Tom Robbins, Thelonius Monk).  The more I learn about Miss Betty, the more I adore her.

She moved up to NYC to study fashion design at FIT and ended up being successful as a model; appearing in editorials in Seventeen, Ebony, and Glamour.  She quickly associated herself with a seminal group of artists in Greenwich Village, such as Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stallone, and eventually married jazz musician Miles Davis, becoming his second wife in 1967.  Betty Davis was the one who introduced Miles to both Hendrix and Stallone, which resulted with Miles creating his hugely experimental album, Bitches Brew, and the birth of jazz fusion.  It was rumored that the reason her marriage to Miles was short lived was because of an affair with Hendrix however, we'll never know and she'll never tell.  She's generally a total bad-ass and I admire her a great deal.
info via Wikipedia

 

Betty Davis via Musthear.com

Miles and Betty Davis 1969. By Baron Wolman.

A couple more articles about Betty Davis: Bold Betty Davis, The Real Betty Davis, & The Beautiful Dichotomy of Betty Davis