She’s got Betty Davis Eyes: Rare interview of funk goddess giving demure interview to flirty DJ — dangerousminds.net

Betty Davis cares not for your notions of respectability It really is an injustice that Betty Davis (born Betty Mabry) is perceived primarily as Miles Davis’ “muse”—that’s her photo on his Filles De Kilimanjaro album and that record’s “Mademoiselle Mabry” is a tribute to Betty, obviously—rather than an artist in her own right. This is not to say she didn’t have a huge hand in the trajectory of his work. Bitches Brew would not have been Bitches Brew had she not introduced Miles to the music of JImi Hendrix and Sly Stone, and she says that she convinced him to change the original title from “Witches Brew.” After her divorce from Miles, Betty recorded two albums in the early 70s with crack backing musicians like Larry Graham, Merl Saunders (Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt), Neal Schon (Santana/Journey) and members of Graham Central Station, Tower of Power, even the young Pointer Sisters singing back-up. Davis was the original “nasty gal” creating the blueprint for suggestive “outrageousness” well-trod by today’s female chart toppers.

Read More