Betty Davis, a bold and pioneering funk singer, model and songwriter of the 1960s and ‘70s who was credited with inspiring then-husband Miles Davis’ landmark fusion of jazz and more contemporary sounds, has died at age 77.
Davis died early Wednesday after a brief illness, according to Danielle Maggio, a singer, adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and associate producer of the 2017 documentary “Betty: They Say I’m Different." Davis spent part of her childhood in Pittsburgh and settled there during the second half of her life.
Sometimes referred to as “Madonna before Madonna,” Davis was the rare woman to make funk albums in the 1970s, and her three albums from that time were showcases for her fearless personality and sexuality and insistence on control of her material and her image. Davis producer Greg Errico, former drummer for Sly and the Family Stone, would call her style “down and dirty funk." Her records sold modestly at the time, but their impact has been cited often in the decades following.
She dated Eric Clapton and Robert Palmer among other rock stars, but was best known for her time with Miles Davis. They were only together for a brief time in the 1960s: He alleged — and she denied — that she had an affair with Hendrix. But her influence on Miles Davis and the future of jazz lasted far longer.
“His world was progressive jazz, plus he was a lover of classical music, so there were lots of things he hadn’t picked up on,” Betty Davis told the Guardian in 2010.
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