Betty Davis

Betty Davis (born Betty Mabry, 1945) is an American funk and soul singer.

When she turned sixteen, Betty moved to New York and met several musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. She met Miles Davis in 1967 and - as he states in his autobiography - helped to plant the seeds of his future musical explorations by introducing him to psychedelic rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix and funk innovator Sly Stone. She married Davis in 1968.
After the breakup of her marriage, Betty moved to London to pursue her modeling career. She wrote music - a passion since childhood - while in the UK and returned to the US with the intention of recording songs with Santana. Instead, she organized a group of talented West Coast funk musicians to make her own recordings.

Her first record, Betty Davis, was released in 1973 and her band included members of Sly & The Family Stone, Graham Central Station and Tower of Power. Davis released two more studio albums: They Say I'm Different (1974) and Nasty Gal (1975). However, none of the three albums were commercial successes.
Davis remained a cult figure as a singer, due in part to her open sexual attitude, which was controversial for the time. Some of her shows were boycotted and her songs not played on the radio due to pressure by religious groups. With the passage of time her records have become highly regarded by collectors of soul and funk music. Davis eventually stopped making music and returned to Pennsylvania.
Material from a 1979 recording session was eventually used for two further albums, Hangin' Out In Hollywood (1995) and Crashin' From Passion (1996). A greatest hits album, Anti Love: The Best of Betty Davis, was released in 2000.