Betty Carter
| Betty Carter | |
|---|---|
Carter in 1978
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lillie Mae Jones |
| Born |
May 16, 1929 Flint, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | September 26, 1998 (aged 69) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, post-bop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1948–1998 |
| Labels | Columbia, Peacock, ABC, Atco, United Artists, Roulette, Bet-Car, Verve |
Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked, "There's really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter."
Carter was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up in Detroit, where her father, James Jones, was the musical director of a Detroit church and her mother, Bessie, was a housewife. As a child, Carter was raised to be extremely independent and to not expect nurturing from her family. Even thirty years after leaving home, Carter was still very aware of and affected by the home life she was raised in, and was quoted saying:
Despite the isolation from her family that Carter felt due to their lack of support, it is possible to attribute her fighting spirit and determination to make it in the music business to this sense of abandonment, leading her to be the legend that she is today. She studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory at the age of fifteen, but did not exceed a modest level of expertise.
At the age of sixteen, Carter began singing. As her parents were not big proponents of her pursuing a singing career, Carter would sneak out at night to audition for amateur shows. After winning first place at her first amateur competition, Carter felt as though she were being accepted into the music world and decided that she must pursue it tirelessly. When Carter began performing live, she was too young to be admitted into bars, so she obtained a forged birth certificate to gain entry in order to perform.
Even at a young age, Carter was able to bring a new vocal style to jazz. The breathiness of her voice was a characteristic seldom heard before her appearance on the music scene. She also was well known for her passion for scat singing and her strong belief that the throwaway attitude that most jazz musicians approached it with was inappropriate and wasteful due to its spontaneity and basic inventiveness, seldom seen elsewhere.
Detroit, where Carter grew up, was a hotbed of jazz growth. After signing with a talent agent after her win at amateur night, Carter had opportunities to perform with famous jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, who visited Detroit for an extensive amount of time. Gillespie is often considered responsible for her strong passion for scatting. In earlier recordings, it is apparent that her scatting had similarities to the qualities of Gillespie's.
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