Betty Mabry Davis was born in 1944 in Durham, NC, and grew up listening to hard blues. In several songs, she name dropped John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and other blues giants. She went on to become one of the greatest artists of funk’s golden age. In contrast to the jazzy sophistication of Chaka Khan, she was grittier, raunchier, and far more controversial.

Davis released four classic albums between 1973 and 1976 but never achieved commercial success: she was apparently “too black for rock and too hard for soul” and got little radio play. One of her last recorded songs was titled “Stars Starve, You Know.” She knew her music had hard, sharp edges and slammed slick disco before slamming disco was cool. In “Bottom of the Barrel,” she sings, “Take off that disco and put on some good music.”

Betty moved to New York to become a model and songwriter and caught the eye of jazz giant Miles Davis. They were married for one year, but in his autobiography Miles described her as one of the most influential people in his life and testified to her musical and cultural importance, as well. 

Betty was a big influence on my personal life as well as my musical life. She introduced me to the music of Jimi Hendrix—and to Hendrix himself—and other black rock music and musicians. She knew Sly Stone and all those guys, and she was great herself. If Betty were singing today she’d be something like Madonna; something like Prince, only as a woman. She was the beginning of all that when she was singing as Betty Davis. She was just ahead of her time. She also helped me change the way I was dressing. The marriage only lasted about a year, but that year was full of new things and surprises and helped point the way I was to go, both in my music and, in some ways, my lifestyle.

The musicians knew Betty was bad. On her 1973 self-titled debut album, she was backed by Sly & The Family Stone’s rhythm section, Larry Graham and Gregg Errico and Santana’s Neal Schon, among other badasses. Over the next four years, Davis led a band with a loyal and steady personnel: Larry Johnson (bass), Fred Mills (keys), Semmie (Nickey) Neal, Jr. (drums), and Carlos Morales (guitar). Like James Brown, Davis could hear complete rhythm arrangements in her head and sing each part to her band, who would put them together to create masterpieces of syncopation.