In Memoriam 2022: Betty Davis (1944–2022) Tribute List

American singer, songwriter, and model, Betty Davis achieved fame sharing her unique persona, described as "beautiful, bold, and brash." Her modeling career included work in Glamour, Ebony, and Seventeen. Then in the mid-1970s, Davis released her three most popular albums, showing a gritty funk style ahead of its time, influencing future stars such as Madonna and Prince. Flamboyant trendsetter that she was, her performance style and her sexually-oriented lyrics were considered controversial. In 1980, after her father's death, Davis retired quietly to her hometown for the rest of her life. This tribute list includes vocabulary from lyrics, articles, and biographical information.
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Full list of words from this list:

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  1. incandescent
    characterized by ardent emotion, intensity, or brilliance
    The incandescent, influential funk musician Betty Davis, who made a string of albums in the mid-1970s that helped to shape stylish, Afrofuturist strains of funk and hip-hop, died on Wednesday in Homestead, Penn., where she had lived since childhood, according to a statement from her record label.
    – NPR
  2. funk
    an earthy type of jazz combining it with blues and soul
    The incandescent, influential funk musician Betty Davis, who made a string of albums in the mid-1970s that helped to shape stylish, Afrofuturist strains of funk and hip-hop, died on Wednesday in Homestead, Penn., where she had lived since childhood, according to a statement from her record label.
    – NPR
  3. righteous
    morally justified
    Sure you say your right on and you're righteous
    – Anti Love Song
  4. deceive
    be dishonest with
    You believe, he deceives, who's to blame?
    – Your Man My Man
  5. trendy
    in accord with the latest fad
    You can call her trendy
    And superficial
    An elegant hustler
    But don't you call her no tramp
    – Don’t Call Her No Tramp
  6. superficial
    of little substance or significance
    You can call her trendy
    And superficial
    An elegant hustler
    But don't you call her no tramp
    – Don’t Call Her No Tramp
  7. reprimand
    censure severely or angrily
    Extra, extra, do you understand me?
    Well, if you don't don't reprimand me
    – Dedicated to the Press
  8. resurgence
    bringing again into activity and prominence
    An influential figure in the New York music scene in the late-Sixties, she would pen the Chambers Brothers song "Uptown (to Harlem)," which enjoyed a recent resurgence when it featured in Questlove’s Oscar-nominated documentary Summer of Soul.
    – Rolling Stone
  9. candid
    openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness
    Her candid, liberating attitudes trailblazed a path for artists like Prince and Madonna in the ensuing decade.
    – Rolling Stone
  10. presage
    indicate by signs
    Certainly Davis, who released three exquisitely raw, libidinous albums in the nineteen-seventies, can be said to have presaged more recent expressions of black female desire in popular music—for instance, Janelle Monáe's, in her new album and "emotion picture," "Dirty Computer."
    – The New Yorker
  11. extroverted
    at ease in talking to others
    By the end of the '70s, Davis had largely exited the public eye. As extroverted as she was on her records and on stage, Davis was far more reserved off stage.
    – NPR
  12. revelatory
    serving to make something apparent or clearly visible
    Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop.
    – Betty Davis Forever
  13. stalwart
    dependable
    Betty's most stalwart companions in the studio and on the road between 1974-1977 were the North Carolina band Funk House, consisting of Betty’s own first cousins Larry Johnson and Nicky Neal plus friends Fred Mills and Carlos Morales.
    – Betty Davis Forever
  14. aesthetic
    a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful
    Davis' whole aesthetic as well as her approach to life is best summed up by the title song of her 1974 album "They Say I’m Different."
    – Soul&Jazz&Funk
  15. persona
    an image of oneself that one presents to the world
    The critics of the day, too, were often hard on Davis’s music, many saying that there wasn’t much of value behind the outrageous stage persona; that Betty Davis was a triumph of style and image over substance.
    – Soul&Jazz&Funk
  16. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    It’s no wonder, perhaps, that a dejected Davis quit the music business in 1979, retreating to Homestead, a small city near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she lived in quiet obscurity.
    – Soul&Jazz&Funk
  17. obscurity
    an unimportant and not well known standing
    It’s no wonder, perhaps, that a dejected Davis quit the music business in 1979, retreating to Homestead, a small city near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she lived in quiet obscurity.
    – Soul&Jazz&Funk
Created on Mon Dec 19 15:38:16 EST 2022 (updated Wed Dec 21 15:36:07 EST 2022)

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