Mahalia Barnes has a jazz hit record with her album of Betty Davis covers with Joe Bonamassa.
‘Ooh Yea! The Betty Davis Songbook’ entered the ARIA jazz chart last week at no 5 and this week holds steady in the Top 10 at no 6.
‘Ooh Yea! The Betty Davis Songbook’ is a tribute record to 70s R&B star Betty Davis, the former wife of Miles Davis, who for just a few short years delivered three “sexy, raw funk records”.
The Mahalia Barnes record is her interpretations of the Davis songs with her band The Soul Mates and US blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa. The songs on the Barnes album cover the three Davis albums of the mid 1970s.
Betty released ‘Betty Davis’ (1973), ‘They Say I’m Different’ (1974) and ‘Nasty Girl’ (1975). While none of the three albums had mainstream success, two songs “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up”, reached no. 66 in 1973, and “Shut Off The Lights”, reached no. 97 in 1975 on the Billboard R&B chart.
Betty Mabry married Miles Davis in 1968. The marriage ended when Miles suspected Betty was having an affair with Jimi Hendrix.
Davis stopped making music in 1979. She is now 69 and lives in Pennsylvania.
Mahalia Barnes, the Noise11 interview part 1
Mahalia Barnes, the Noise11 interview part 2
Mahalia Barnes, the Noise11 interview part 3
Mahalia Barnes, the Noise11 interview part 4
Mahalia Barnes, the Noise11 interview part 5
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