Betty Davis, funk pioneer and second wife of Miles Davis, died Wednesday at the age of 77.
An announcement made on the artist’s website by his longtime friend Constance Portis. “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, multi-talented music influencer and rock pioneer, singer, songwriter and fashion figure,” she wrote.
Model and artist, Betty Davis marked the world of funk, of which she was one of the pioneers.
A source of inspiration
While her short career was not commercially successful, she influenced the music world for decades. Starting with Miles Davis, of whom she was the second wife. Their meteoric marriage only lasted a year, but Betty Davis is credited with introducing the trumpeter to contemporary rock, through Jimi Hendrix, and paving the way for its fusion phase, which gave birth to “Bitches Brew” in 1970.
Legend of the New York music scene of the 1960s, the artist who was mainly active between 1964 and 1975, subsequently inspired several generations of artists like rappers Ice Cube and Talib Kweli, who sampled his work. She had also achieved great success for her lyricism with sexual references, paving the way for legends like Prince and Madonna.
Author of four studio albums, from “Betty Davis” released in 1973 to “Is it love or desire” published in 1976, she retired from the music industry in the early 1980s. Uptown (to Harlem)”, written in 1967 for the Chambers Brothers, was honored in the documentary “Summer of Soul” by musician Questlove, nominated for the 2022 Oscars.