BETTY DAVIS (1944 - 2022)

Betty Davis, a wildly flamboyant performer who merged funk and jazz to create her own unique sound, has passed away on February 9th at the age of seventy-seven. She had been privately battling cancer. The former wife of jazz legend, Miles Davis, was a powerhouse enetertainer known for her sensuous stage persona and sexually suggestive songs.

Born Betty Mabry in Durham, NC, she had an interest in music as a young girl and wrote her first song at the age of twelve. Her family relocated to Homestead, PA and after graduating from high school there, Betty headed out to New York City. She enrolled at F.I.T. to study fashion yet became a presence in the scene happening in Greenwich Village at the time. Hanging out with musicians, actors and artists, Mabry began modeling. This lead to her meeting producer, Don Costa and getting her first recording contract, releasing some singles under "Betty Mabry" in 1964.

She began a relationship with South African musician, Hugh Masekela in 1968 and did some recordings with him during this time. Not long after separating from Masekela, Mabry met Miles Davis. She was the cover model on his 1968 album, "Filles de Kilimanjaro" which features a song, "Mademoiselle Mabry" in tribute to her. Davis had ended his marriage to dancer, Frances Taylor in 1966 and then became involved with actress, Cicely Tyson for a couple of years when the forty-two year old musician impulsively married Mabry who was only twenty-three at the time. During their brief, tumultuous marriage, Betty introduced Davis to rock music and the mod clothing style of the era while he helped her become more confident in her abilities as a musician, recording several demos with his guidance. The marriage came to an end after a year with Davis accusing her of infidelity with Jimi Hendrix.

Davis initially moved to Britain after the end of her marriage, returning to modeling and creating music before heading to the West Coast to finally begin her first album. Davis released her self-titled album in 1973 which she wrote all the songs. This collection of sexually provocative, funky rock is highlighted by her bold, raspy voice. Davis would release her follow-up, "They Say I'm Different" the following year. Neither album was a big commercial success but she managed to get signed to a major label, Island Records and released a third album, "Nasty Gal" in 1975. Davis had begun working on another album before she was dropped from the label.

After this disappointment, Davis eventually went back to Homestead, ended her music career and settled into a quiet life. But over the years, Davis would become a cult figure, recognized as a performer who was well before her time and never fully appreciated as an artist. By 2009, all of Davis' albums were reissued and her unreleased music was finally able to be heard. Filmmaker, Philip Cox tracked down Davis, who was living quite modestly in the basement of a house, to make a documentary about her extraordinary life and career, "Betty: They Say I'm Different" in 2017.