Song:If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up
Album:Betty Davis
No, not the actress Bette Davis. This Betty Davis was responsible for some of the nastiest, skunkiest, greasiest funk of the 70s. And she was once married to Miles Davis. If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up was on the R & B charts but the subject matter of her music was not mainstram fare. She was born Betty Mabry July 26, 1945 in Durham, NC and grew up in Pittsburgh. She moved to New York and modelled in magazines like Seventeen, Ebony & Glamour while persuing a music career. Her first songwriting credit was the 1967 Chambers Brothers hit Uptown. Then she met Miles Davis and they married in the summer of 1968. This was at a time when Miles was exploring jazz rock fusion and in his autobiography he credited Betty with turning him on to Jimi Hendrix and changing his look. That's Betty on the cover of Miles' 1968 album Filles de Kilimanjaro. They divorced in 1969 because according to Miles, she was too wild and young for him. So then betty turned her attention to music. She wanted to record with Carlos Santana but instead put together a band of West Coast funk musicians and signed with Just Sunshine Records, a label owned by concert promoter Michael Lang. Musicians who appeared on her debut album included Neil Schon, Gregg Errico, Larry Graham, Greg Adams, Merl Saunders and The Pointer Sisters. If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up charted on the R & B charts but it was more sexually charged then the average record company would like. Radio stations wouldn't play her music. But Betty's music is beloved by hardcore funk fans. When she signed with Island Records for her 1975 album Nasty Gal, she clashed with owner Chris Blackwell over the lyric content and Betty Davis quit the music business after Blackwell wouldn't release one of her albums. The Seattle based label Light In The Attic is rereleasing Betty's music and Betty Davis is now available on CD with bonus tracks. So if you like nasty dirty funk, you should check out Betty Davis. Here's a video for If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up by Betty Davis.
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