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Kagle Redding

1930-1960 Betty Carter was born Lillie Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan, on May 16, 1930.

Though some web sources will list 1929 as her year of birth 1930 is the actual year Betty Carter was born. Her birth name was Lilly Mae Jones and she was born in Flint Michigan on May 16. She grew up in Detroit where her father James Jones worked as the musical director at the local church there. Lily-Mae sang at the Hartford Avenue Church: Its pastor was reverend Charles A. Hill a central figure in Detroit's early civil rights struggle.

Her Mother Bessie was a woman who thought, like many religious African- Americans, that Jazz was "the Devil's music".

Her mother would remain an active member of the N.A.A.C.P. until her death in 1971.

unfortunately she would never hear her daughter sing. Their relationship would always be a strained one. Lily Mae would sing informally with other future greats such as pianists Barry Harris and Tommy Flanagan.

As a child she studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory of Music and as a teenager in high school Betty knew that she wanted to become a professional Jazz singer. It was around this time that she got hooked on a new form of musical expression called Bebop.

When asked how she came upon her unique approach Betty says that she came upon her, unusual, style naturally, as a result of trying to attract the interest of musicians who would want to play with her. "When we came up, we knew that we had to become a musician or a better singer or a better horn player," she said. "And that's what we worked toward. We wanted musicians to like what we were doing as singers, so that they would want to play with us and accompany us and...that made us feel like we were contributing something."

Far more than perhaps any vocalist in jazz history, Betty uses her voice as a musical instrument, period. And in her case, the musician is as innovative and groundbreaking an improviser and performer as a Charlie Parker or a Dizzy Gillespie, to name just two of the bebop legends whom Betty sat in with when she first got her start in Detroit nightclubs in the 1940s.

At age 16 she met Saxophonist Charlie Parker and was allowed to sit in at the legendary saxophonist's Detroit gig.

She would also win a talent contest and became a regular on the local club circuit where she would not only sing but play piano as well.

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Bibliography & Quotes

Verve Music Group Quotes: 1- 6 Author: Unknown Posted:1998 Web Link: http://www.vervemusicgroup.com /artist.aspx?ob=per&src=prd &aid=2662

Quote:1(It was Miles Davis who originally recommended Betty Carter to Ray Charles back in the 1950s, Ray agreed to take Betty on tour with him. Enchanted by her voice and looking for a partner to record a series of duets in 1961, he enlisted Ms. Carter in a project that became Ray Charles and Betty Carter.)

Quote: 2 (In 1958, Betty was ready to go back into the recording studio and another little known album called ,I Can't Help It, was the result. Followed closely by a recording on a Texas gospel label by the name of Peacock. Out There, was the result and Betty was now developing a reputation as a fiercely independent woman.)

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