Newton, Black Panther Party Founder: Īt this point, the BPP was in the early stages of its terminal decline. Each letter expresses her concern for his mental health and more than one sympathize with him over the pressure he faced as head of the BPP.
They suggest that Davis and Newton met at least once, and that Newton was charismatic enough to make a profound impression. Sadly, she did not date these communiques, although references within them to Newton’s birthday and the Symbionese Liberation Army date most of them in early 1974. While the letters might not present her as a Black Panther, they certainly add to her personal mystique and beg further questions about her role as a political and cultural icon. Of course, as Parliament’s citation of ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ in its ‘Mothership Connection’ suggests, the worlds of funk, pleasure, and politics were not mutually exclusive.ĭavis’s relationship with Newton confirms the myopia of such an approach. Such an approach depoliticizes Davis, presenting her and her music as almost non-political expressions of female sexuality. Here, thanks to the positioning of her vocals front-and-center in the mix, which focuses the listener’s attention on her risqué lyrics, Davis appears almost hypersexualized, asserting herself over her male paramours. The accompanying reappraisals of her work focused intently on her marriage and the raw sexuality of her lyrics and vocals, with occasional nods to her dismissal of white feminism. Sadly, neither album received the attention nor sales they deserved and they languished in relative obscurity until they were reissued in 2007, sparking a minor renaissance for Davis, which peaked with 2017’s Betty: They Say I’m Different documentary about her life and work. By the time of the letters, Davis was in the final stages of working on the follow-up with a smaller band. In 1973, she released her first album, which includes a list of collaborators that still takes the breath away: Greg Errico (drummer with Sly and the Family Stone), ex-Family Stone bassist Larry Graham, Santana’s Neil Schon on guitar, the legendary horn players from Tower of Power, and on vocals the Pointer Sisters and the one-and-only Sylvester. More important (and equally compulsory to mention) she prompted the electrification of his music via introducing him to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix (a friend of hers) and Sly and the Family Stone, initiating the last truly great phase of his musical career.
It seems compulsory now for any mention of her to highlight her revamping her husband’s wardrobe, prompting him to ditch the black suits in favour of garish shirts, flared trousers, and hip sunglasses. Famously, she transformed the trumpeter’s life and music before his abusive treatment overwhelmed their relationship. A model, actor, songwriter, singer, and musician, she achieved renown in New York circles during the mid-1960s before meeting and then marrying Miles Davis. Davis was, of course, an iconic figure to a small but significant number of African American music fans. Newton archival collection and the existence in the same folder as the following photograph both reveal the identity of this mysterious pen pal and prompt further questions about Newton’s fame and the nature of Black Power, African American radicalism, African American music, and the wider culture in the 1970s.įor this is a publicity photograph promoting the new album They Say I’m Different by the funk singer Betty Davis, released in 1974. This enigmatic communication appears at first to be a particularly intense example of the many fan letters Newton received. It featured a powerful young African American woman, staring down at the camera, with backlighting emphasizing her voluminous natural. ‘I still love you Darlin, I hope the FRONT makes you smile.’ The front referred to a publicity photograph. Newton, the founder and leader of the Black Panther Party. BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANYWAY’ wrote a ‘pen pal’ to Huey P. I’m mad at you Huey because you lied to me.
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