Obituary: Betty Davis, flamboyant funk singer famed for raucous performances
msn.comBetty Mabry Davis, singer, songwriter and model. Born: 16 July, 1944 in Durham, North Carolina. Died: 9 February, 2022 in Homestead, Pennsylvania, aged 77. They Say I’m Different, Nasty Gal, Crashin’ from Passion… Betty Davis’s album titles tell it like it was.
This pioneering R&B singer, songwriter and producer, who has died of natural causes, aged 77, took no prisoners with her lean and dirty funk sound, her feral vocal growl, flamboyant Afrofuturist style, raucous performances and sexually empowered and unapologetic stage presence.
In her own words, she was “r-a-w”. Her peer Carlos Santana described her as "indomitable – she couldn't be tamed. Musically, philosophically and physically, she was extreme and attractive. ”Marc Bolan encouraged her to launch her career, Muhammad Ali and Richard Pryor attended her gigs, and she had relationships with Hugh Masekela and Eric Clapton (but turned down his offer to produce her music as he was too trad, dad).
Her most (in)famous partnership was with Miles Davis in the late Sixties. Theirs was a marriage of style and taste, if not minds, with Betty as the chief influencer.
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