THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
February 17, 2022 - February 23, 2022 • 15
Arts & Entertainment Jazz pg 15 | Film/TV pg 17, 21 | Travel pg 19
Pg. 18 Your Stars
BETTY DAVIS, CULT SINGER & AFROFUTURIST, DIES AT 77
Betty Davis whose funked-up song stylings led her to be crowned Queen of Funk, earning a cult following and her defiant fashion consciousness which made her a forerunner of the Afrofuturist movement that inspired LaBelle, Prince and David Bowie, died on Feb. 9, in Homestead, PA. She was 77. The news was confirmed to Rolling Stone by Davis’ close friend Danielle Maggio, an ethnomusicologist whose work focused on the singer’s music and life. Allegheny County communications director Amie Downs said Davis died of natural causes. “When I was told that it was over, I just accepted it. And nobody else was knocking at my door,” Davis said to The New York Times in 2018 about her toobrief career. She said her father’s death changed her priorities. “I went to another level. It was no longer about the music or anything, it was about me losing a part of myself. It was devastating.” In 2007, “Betty Davis” (1973) and “They Say I’m Different” (1974) were reissued by Light in the Attic Records. In 2009, the label reissued “Nasty Gal” and her unreleased fourth studio album recorded in 1976, re-titled “Is It Love or Desire?” There were extensive liner notes on both reissues which shed some light on the mystery of why her fourth album, considered possibly her best work by members of her last band (Herbie Hancock, Chuck Rainey, and Alphonse Mouzon), was shelved and remained unreleased for 33 years. An interest in the trailblazing life of Davis was resurrected in 2017, when the independent documentary “They Say
I’m Different,” directed by Philip Cox was released. In 2019, Davis released “A Little Bit Hot Tonight,” her first new song in over 40 years, which was performed and sung by Danielle Maggio, who was also associate producer on the documentary. Musicians and listeners have resurrected her definitive raw funk music that is bestowing her with muchbelated respect after her music From the May 26, has been re-is1973 issue of the sued and samAmNews pled by Ice Cube, Method Man, and Lenny Kravitz among others. During her music career, Davis was an independent renegade given the status of female funkateers of which there were few. She wrote all her songs and produced her last two albums, working with her own selected musicians. Few Black women in the music industry including Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, her 1970s contemporaries or later generations like Janet Jackson or Beyoncé have ever enjoyed that level of creative autonomy so early in their careers. “I’m me and I’m different; my music
is just another level of funk. I love Tina [Turner], but we are two totally different people. The same with Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Larry Graham, and Stevie Wonder,” said Davis during an interview with Black Music magazine in 1974. “We all make your fingers pop, but for different reasons...so don’t compare me.” Betty Gray Mabry was born on July 16, 1944, in Durham, North Carolina, to Henry and Betty Mabry and grew up in rural North Carolina before the family relocated to Homestead, Pa., where Betty graduated from high school. Her father was a steelworker and her mother a nurse. She was introduced to the recordings of blues singers Big Mama Thornton, Howlin’ Wolf and rock and roll singer Chuck Berry, singing along with the record player. She was 12 when she wrote her first song, “Bake a Cake of Love,” and later she sang in local talent shows. As a teenager, Davis ventured to New York City to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She landed a modeling job with the Wilhelmina agency, appearing in Glamour and Seventeen magazines and Jet Magazine’s centerfold. She was a friend and early muse to fashion designer Stephen Burrows. She loved the Greenwich Village cultural scene from fashion to rock and folk music during the early 1960s. She also found joy at Manhattan’s Upper West Side club the Cellar (Broadway and 90th Street), where an array of stylish folks hung out—models, actors, musicians and athletes (one of few clubs owned by a Black person during that time). Mabry became the house DJ and hostess. Her first single “The Cellar” named after her favorite spot was produced through her friendship with singer Lou Courtney, this led to her working with arranger /producer Don Costa recording “Get Ready for Betty” and “I’m Gonna
Get My Baby Back” in 1964. She recorded under Betty Mabry. In 1967, the Chambers Brothers recorded her ode to Harlem, “Uptown.” She also wrote several demo songs for the Commodores, which helped them get signed to Motown Records. The storied label offered her a writer’s contract, but she declined after they insisted on owning all her publishing. The South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, then her boyfriend, produced a 1968 single for her, “Live, Love, Learn.” During her visit to the United Kingdom, Eric Clapton, then still with Cream, offered to produce her but she declined. She later shared with culture writer and scholar Oliver Wang, “Clapton was into a classic-type blues style whereas I’m more into an avant-garde bag. I just don’t think it would have worked.” She met Miles Davis at a jazz club and became his second wife in 1968. Her photograph was the inspired cover of his 1969 album “Filles de Kilimanjaro,” which included the song “Mademoiselle Mabry.” Ms. Davis introduced her husband to the music of Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, catalyzing his move into rock and funk. Even with her short-lived, abusive marriage to Miles it was evident she was much more of an influence on him than he on her. Although he helped produce a few demo songs for her in 1969, they didn’t land her a deal; she did that on her own after their divorce. It is important to note, Betty introduced Miles to her friends like Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. At that time Miles had begun his transition to jazzrock fusion, recording his landmark 1970 electric album, “Bitches Brew” (Columbia Records). While working on the album Miles considered the title “Witches Brew,” it was Betty, who suggested “Bitches Brew” which stuck. She See JAZZ on page 21
Funk music pioneer Betty Davis passes By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews It was reported that the trailblazing funk musician and singer-songwriter Betty Davis has died in Homestead, Pennsylvania at 77 years old. Davis, whose given name was Betty Mabry, was a powerful force of unapologetic sexuality, feminine freedom and innovative musicianship that made her a Black music history legend. She released three studio albums during her brief, yet impactful music career, 1973’s “Betty Davis,” 1974’s “They Say I’m Different” and “Nasty Gal” in 1975. She moved to New York City in 1965 after being raised in Durham, North Carolina and Pittsburgh. During her humble
beginnings in NYC, Davis made a living modeling and managing nightclubs. The city was teeming with artists and she quickly connected with the local music community, meeting musicians like Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. Davis had been writing songs since she was 12 years old, which prepared her to jump at the opportunity to record a few soul music singles. One of her songs, “Uptown to Harlem,” was covered by The Chamber Brothers in 1967. Davis is also known for her brief marriage to jazz musician Miles Davis which has been documented as a violent and painful year of matrimony. Miles and Betty did collaborate on music together. “Her face is on the cover of ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro,’ an album Mr. Davis recorded
in 1968. He produced recording sessions for his wife in 1969 with his musicians— including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and John McLaughlin—along with Jimi Hendrix’s rhythm section, Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell. Shelved by Columbia Records, the sessions were released in 2016 as ‘The Columbia Years: 1968-69,’” writes The New York Times. Following the divorce, she began working on her own music. Sly and the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico produced her debut album, and with the encouragement of her ex-husband, she produced and arranged her next two studio albums. Betty Davis was a unique, some say raunchy, overtly sexual musician that many regard as a feminist figure because of her in-your-face style and explicit
lyrics. She wore metallic revealing clothing and wore a perfect afro that highlighted the beauty of her Blackness and the strength of the iconic image. Unfortunately, the world was not quite ready for Davis’ prowess and after the release of her final studio album “Nasty Gal,” Davis began to withdraw and by the 1980s completely fell into obscurity. In 2018, a documentary about Davis surfaced. “Betty: They Say I’m Different” revealed Betty’s story and image for the first time in decades. She continued to live privately until she died. Condolences are due to this amazing Black woman pioneer who took the funk world by storm and gave the world a view of what true female empowerment looked like.
