Betty Mabry: Last News

Betty Davis, a commercially unsuccessful but immensely influential soul, funk, and R&B singer, died today of natural causes, a representative confirmed in an email to The FADER. Born Betty Mabry in Durham, North Carolina, she moved to New York in the early '60s to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

A.D. Amorosi Singer-songwriter-producer Betty Davis, an icon of future-funk, fashion and bold sexuality in the 1970s, died Wednesday at age 76 in her longtime home of Homestead, Pennsylvania.Davis, who was once married to and collaborated with jazz legend Miles Davis, died of natural causes, Allegheny County communications director Amie Downs told Rolling Stone.The singer was widely viewed as having paved a way for R&B and hip-hop performers ranging from Prince and Erykah Badu to Cardi B and  Megan Thee Stallion, even though she dropped out of the recording scene so early — all but disappearing after the mid-1970s — that thse debts were not always recognized.In her heyday, this uninhibited mistress of futuristic funk and highly sexualized lyrical and vocal prowess released three albums – 1973’s “Betty Davis,” 1974’s “They Say I’m Different” and 1975’s definitive “Nasty Gal” – that were as bold in their self-creation as she was in portraying their sensual power on each album sleeve.

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.

Betty Davis, a soul and funk singer of the 1960s whose growling, raspy vocal style and unapologetically explicit lyrics would influence future performers from Prince and Erykah Badu to Outkast, died today of natural causes at her home in Homestead, Pennsylvania. She was 77.