Betty Carter (May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style. Her devotion to the jazz idiom was such that her fellow vocalist Carmen McRae once claimed that "there's really only one jazz singer - only one: Betty Carter."
Carter was born as Lillie Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan and grew up in Detroit, where her father led a church choir. She studied piano at th...
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Betty Carter (May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style. Her devotion to the jazz idiom was such that her fellow vocalist Carmen McRae once claimed that "there's really only one jazz singer - only one: Betty Carter."
Carter was born as Lillie Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan and grew up in Detroit, where her father led a church choir. She studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory. She won a talent contest and became a regular on the local club circuit, singing and playing piano. When she was 16, she sang with Charlie Parker, and she later performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.
Carter honed her scat singing ability while on tour with Lionel Hampton in the late 1940s. Hampton's wife Gladys gave her the nickname "Betty Bebop", a nickname she reportedly detested. In the 1950s Carter made recordings with King Pleasure and the Ray Bryant Trio. Her first solo LP, Out There with Betty Carter,...
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