Betty Davis, the pioneering funk singer, songwriter, producer, model, and ex-wife of Miles Davis, has died. A statement on Davis’ website confirms the news. She died of natural causes according to Amie Downs, communications director for Allegheny County, where Davis lived the majority of her life, as Rolling Stone reports. Davis was 77.

Davis’ fiery, sexualized vocal performances and vibrant fashion choices both proved influential on multitudes of future musical icons such as Erykah Badu, Janelle Monáe, and Peaches, all of whom are quoted in the statement on her website. “One can hardly imagine Prince, Erykah Badu, or Outkast without the influence of Betty Davis,” the statement reads.

Davis was born Betty Mabry in 1945. She grew up in North Carolina and moved to Pittsburgh with her family at age 12. At age 16 she enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where she became enmeshed in the city’s creative scene, from Greenwich Village folk clubs to the uptown hub the Cellar, which became the inspiration for her single “The Cellar.” Her 1964 debut single “Get Ready For Betty” was released under the name Betty Mabry. Around the same time she teamed with Roy Arlington as Roy And Betty for the single “I’ll Be There.” In NYC, Mabry modeled for magazines including Seventeen and Ebony and befriended musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone.

She recorded several songs for Columbia in 1968 with arrangements by Hugh Masekela, who she was dating at the time. In the late ’60s she also wrote the Chambers Brothers song “Uptown (To Harlem)” and early material for the Commodores. Although most of her recordings for Columbia were never released, in 2007 the reissue label Light In The Attic released them under the title The Columbia Years 1968-1969.

In 1968, shortly after her relationship with Masekela, Mabry began a short but seismically influential marriage to Miles Davis. She appeared on the cover of his album Filles de Kilimanjaro and inspired the song “Mademoiselle Mabry.” Betty introduced Miles to rock musicians like Hendrix and is credited with inspiring his jazz fusion phase. After her divorce from Miles, Betty moved to London to pursue her modeling and music careers. At the urging of T. Rex’s Marc Bolan, she began writing songs for herself and, upon returning to the US a year later, began recording her own songs and arrangements.

Her trio of solo albums — 1973’s Betty Davis, 1974’s They Say I’m Different, and 1975’s Nasty Gal — sealed her legend. But a series of TV bans and boycotts due to the sexualized nature of her music resulted in Davis achieving cult fame rather than superstardom. After some final recording sessions, she moved back to the Pittsburgh area in 1979 and lived there until her death. After releasing The Columbia Years, Light In The Attic reissued Davis’ legendary 1970s records and released her shelved 1976 album Is It Love Or Desire? for the first time in 2009.

Here’s the full statement from Davis’ site:

Alpha: July 26, 1945

Omega: February 9, 2022

“There is no other.”

At 4:40 a.m. EST on February 9, 2022, visionary singer, songwriter, producer, and fashion icon Betty Mabry Davis began her eternal rest.

Connie Portis, Davis’ friend of 65 years, says, “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, a multi-talented music influencer and pioneer rock star, singer, songwriter, and fashion icon. Most of all, Betty was a friend, aunt, niece, and beloved member of her community of Homestead, Pennsylvania, and of the worldwide community of friends and fans. At a time to be announced, we will pay tribute to her beautiful, bold, and brash persona. Today we cherish her memory as the sweet, thoughtful, and reflective person she was…There is no other.”

One can hardly imagine Prince, Erykah Badu, or Outkast without the influence of Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music. Davis penned the song “Uptown (to Harlem)” for The Chambers Brothers and wrote the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Davis turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the U.K., Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself.

A common thread throughout Davis’ career was her unbending DIY ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal. In 1968, she married Miles Davis and quickly influenced him on the magic of psychedelic rock along with introducing him to Jimi Hendrix—personally inspiring the classic album, Bitches Brew. She left the marriage, determined to carve her own path in the music industry. A pioneer as a music producer, songwriter and vocalist, Davis’ album credits include Betty Davis, They Say I’m Different, Nasty Gal, Is This Love or Desire and Crashin’ From Passion.

Davis died in Homestead, Pennsylvania, where she had lived since the age of ten. Davis participated in talent shows at the Homestead Community Center, attended Park Place AME Church, and graduated from Homestead High School before embarking on dual careers in modeling and the music business. After graduating from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Davis worked as a model for Wilhelmina. She was one of the first Black models to be featured in Glamour and Seventeen, and she worked for designers Halston, Betsey Johnson, Norma Kamali, and Stephen Burrows. Off the runway, Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Davis was raw, unapologetic, and in full control, a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints.

In the 2000s, Davis was rediscovered by a new generation of fans, including John Ballon, who was instrumental in reviving her catalog of music via reissues on Light in the Attic Records, a project that received Davis’ full support. She also inspired a new generation of artists. Afrofuturist singer/actor Janelle Monae credits Davis as “one of the godmothers of redefining how Black women in music can be viewed,” noting that “she’s opened up a lot of doors for artists like myself.” Peaches describes Davis as “the original – in control, a sexual powerhouse and a vocal inspiration.” Erykah Badu adds, “We just grains of sand in her Bettyness.”

More recently, Davis’ music was featured in television series such as Orange Is the New Black, Girlboss, Mixed-ish, and High Fidelity. Davis herself was the subject of a 2017 documentary film, Betty: They Say I’m Different. “Uptown (to Harlem),” her initial songwriting coup, was featured in Ahmir Questlove Thompson’s Academy Award-nominated Summer of Soul. In late 2022, Light in the Attic will reissue Davis’ final, and personal favorite, studio album Crashin’ From Passion.

Light in the Attic’s Matt Sullivan says, “Our hearts are incredibly heavy today. Betty has been the guiding light in everything we do at Light in the Attic. Her unbending DIY ethic and groundbreaking spirit will live on forever. We are going to miss her so much.”

Additional information on how to make donations in honor of Betty will be announced soon.

Below, check out music performed, written, and inspired by Betty Davis.