Stunning Photos of Betty Davis and Her Bold, Funky Style in the Late 1960s and ’70s

Born 1945 in Durham, North Carolina, American funk and soul singer Betty Davis recorded “Get Ready For Betty” b/w “I’m Gonna Get My Baby Back” in 1964 for DCP International. Sometime in that same era, she also recorded a duet with Roy Arlington and under their joint name “Roy and Betty,” released a single for Safice entitled, “I’ll Be There.”

h/t: vintag.es

Betty’s first major credit was writing “Uptown (to Harlem)” for the Chambers Brothers, 1967. She began dating Miles in early 1968, and were married in September 1968. In just one year of marriage, she influenced him greatly by introducing him to the fashions and the new popular music trends of the era.

After the end of her marriage with Miles, Betty moved to London to pursue her modeling career. She wrote music while in the UK and, after about a year, returned to the US with the intention of recording songs with Santana. Instead, she recorded her own songs with a group of West Coast funk musicians. Davis wrote and arranged all her songs.

After some recording sessions in 1979, Davis stopped making music and returned to Pittsburgh, where she’s lived quietly ever since.