RIP to the incomparable Betty Davis who was a singer, songwriter, producer, and model. Upon hearing of the transition of Ms. Davis, I was recently helping an English Master’s student with her research on accomplished female writers who had famous literary husbands, such as Alice Dunbar, Mary Shelley, and Sylvia Plath. While I was having that discussion, I thought that it would be great if a student expanded that study to other accomplished women artists who were married to accomplished male artists whose notoriety seemed to outshine the women regardless of how talented the women were. Of course, Davis, former wife of jazz great Miles Davis, immediately came to mind. Betty was just as influential on Miles as he was on her because she introduced him to psychedelic rock and the fashion of the genre, which greatly influenced Miles’ fusion period. Miles attests to this in his 1989 autobiography: “Betty was a big influence on my personal life as well as my musical life. She introduced me to the music of Jimi Hendrix—and to Jimi Hendrix himself—and other black rock music and musicians. She knew Sly Stone and all those guys, and she was great herself” (290). Miles adds, “If Betty were singing today she’d 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. She was just ahead of her time” (290). To be black, female, uncontrollable, uncategorizable, and unrepentant is a recipe for marginalization. Betty Davis, though, managed to escape male minimization. Like so many other brilliant black women, she turned life’s bullshit into fertilizer and blossomed beautifully. To call her a funk artist is like calling Jim Thorpe a football player as both were bigger than one genre or sport and both used their talent as a platform to change global attitudes about race, gender, and sexuality. I lament that it took my Pops so long to get me to understand why I needed to know who Davis was. Yet I’m glad that Davis, like my Pops, was persistent in not allowing America to ignore or erase her so that other othered people can have the blueprint and courage to will themselves into an equal space of humanity.
NYU Professor De Angela Duff curated one of the most thorough symposiums on Davis. It featured noted scholars Greg Tate, Kwami Coleman, and Emily Lordi, and can be viewed here. Professor Duff has also compiled an excellent syllabus on Davis, which includes a discography, filmography, and bibliography that can be viewed here. Finally, there is a wonderful documentary, Betty Davis: They Say I’m Different (2017).