James Brown, George Clinton, Jimi, and Sly are all contenders for a “Mount Funkmore.” There’s one woman whose face should be carved in that stone with the boys.

Long before she was ever a wife and “muse,” Betty Davis was an up-and-coming songwriter, Wilhelmina model, and “it” girl of the New York underground. She gave her hit song “Uptown” to the Chambers Brothers and called Jimi Hendrix and Warhol’s Factory her friends. With her substantial influence on her husband Miles Davis, jazz fusion as we know it was born. Betty didn’t need a famous man to make her groundbreaking albums: she was a singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer all on her own. Her in-your-face persona is still so fresh, she’s got Beyoncé name-dropping her 50 years later! Betty was everything: raunchy, loud, unapologetically fierce, driven, sensitive, and spiritual. Above ...