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"If Betty were singing today she 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." --Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography The former wife of Miles, Betty Mabry Davis is perhaps the only woman in the world who could rightfully have the following legend tattooed across her rear: THIS ASS INVENTED FUSION. While their marriage only lasted a year (1968-1969), Betty pointed the way to Miles, introducing him to the musical and material gods of revolutionary style: Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, which would have an enormous impact on his electrified musical Frankenfussion masterpiece known as Bitches Brew. Betty ruled as the mentor-muse for the original man and his music. She was fire, "a free spirit" as Miles said. Rumor holds that Miles broke things off because he suspected that his wife was tangled up in a torrid affair with Jimi Hendrix, an infidelity that she has flatly denied to this day. This was a woman with the strength of a Black Panther, a woman in total control who, in her self-titled 1973 debut album (the first of her trio of sizzling solo LPs), declared war on love on Anti Love Song. The album's openning track, If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up, solidified her notorious image as a "nasty girl". Unfortunately for Betty, America was not yet ready to embrace a woman with such an explicitly sexual persona. Several of her live shows were boycotted by religious groups and even canceled. Radio steered clear of her unconventional music. She had a much rougher edge to her music than other female funk and soul artists of the '70s. Betty Davis' is one of the most extreme sounding debut records of the decade, which just like Bitches Brew takes equal parts inspiration from Hendrix and Sly. Future Journey guitarist Neal Schon gives the music its distinctly hard rock Hendrix edge. The Sly angle is fleshed out by former Family Stone drummer Gregg Errico, who plays on and produces the entire record. Former Sly bassist Larry Graham adds an even more unmistakable sound with his trademark grooves. The roster of other musicians playing on this record is impressive: Patryce Banks, Willie Sparks, and Hershall Kennedy of Graham Central Station; Tower of Power horn players Greg Adams and Michael Gillette; and the Pointer Sisters. One critic aptly described their sound as something like a cross between Tina Turner, Funkadelic, and Sly & The Family Stone. Add the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the flair of Miles Davis, and you have quite a cocktail. Betty was a major influence on Macy Gray. She was a powerhouse, pushing her vocal cords to the limit on every performance. Betty's brand of black music is not pleasantly soulful, it's ecstatically hard. Davis was a singer for the feminist era, a take-no-prisoners sexual predator who screamed, yelled, grunted, purred, and cooed her way through extroverted material like Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him," and "He Was a Big Freak." Though she would've made an excellent disco diva, Betty Davis largely disappeared from the music scene afterward. An aborted 1979 session has been released on multiple occasion. Way ahead of her time, Betty was a musical extremist who demanded too much from her audience. This Anthology offers you the best of those three albums: an unbeatable way of introducing you to the amazing music of Betty!
