Betty Carter
 
Fan Club
"Hearing her sing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' makes you want to curl up in front of the fire, even in summertime." President William Jefferson Clinton
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. This was also the same year she would give birth to her first born son Myles Redding. The album became a critical smash hit!

1960-1980

The single Baby its Cold outside would finally give her some recognition in the popular music scene. Taking on an almost legendary status, fame had finally found Betty Carter.
Choosing to concentrate on her family rather then capitalize on her new fame Betty would produce only two recordings after the Ray Charles / Betty Carter album in the 1960s. In 1963 she would produce the album Round Midnight under the Atco label and a short album in 1964 called Inside Betty Carter under the United Artists label.

Still performing and doing club dates in New York, Philadelphia  and New Jersey, Betty gave birth to her second son Kagle Redding in 1965. Her children needed tending to...
Myles Redding
Kagle Redding
and Betty found herself for the next three years unwilling to go on long extended tours. Betty Carter's career suffered for this and her name would fall back into obscurity again.

In 1969 Betty Carter had decided that it was time for her to get back into music full time but at the time no one seemed to be interested in Betty Carter any more.

Betty hits the road back.

The road back was a hard one and eventually it would take it's toll. She made a live recording on the Roulette Label entitled Finally-Betty Carter which didn't create much of a buzz at the time but would later be considered as one of her finest works and a second live recording again titled Round Midnight was met with the same fate as well. Betty was unable to create any interest in a new album and felt the demands from the record companies were too constricting. As a result she created Bet Car Records in 1970. This would be the sole source of her recordings for the next 17 years.

In 1972 she would leave her husband and move to Brooklyn NY where she would go back on the touring circuit and re-establish herself as a force to be reckoned with in the Jazz industry.

Jazz in decline!

The Rock and Roll movement was in full swing and Jazz was being pushed to the side lines as the music industry saw the big money that Rock and Roll was generating. Jazz was no longer "the Devil's music" and Betty saw what was happening first hand. Musicians where now getting less work and for Betty it was no different. So Betty had to make sure every performance was her best.That way, night club owners would remember her and call back. As time rolled on the Betty Carter Trio was one of the few groups to get consistent nightclub bookings.
By 1974 the plight of jazz had worsened. Compeating against the big money machine that was rock and roll jazz was begining to became less viable in the eyes of the record companies. It was around this time that Betty became concerned for the future of the music she loved.

Betty fought back in two ways. First by the restructuring of her own record companies capability to meet future production and distribution needs and second by bringing new energy to her concert tours. At first Betty could only get second or third billing on the concert circuit.  She soon would be...
regarded as an act which was hard to follow as she would create so much energy and excitement among the audience it was a hard plateau for others following her on stage to reach.

Through her company, Bet Car Records, she would produce many of her best works which include The Betty Carter Album, Betty Carter (later re released as At the Village Vanguard), Now It's My Turn, and I Didn't Know What Time it Was - culminating in the December 1979 recordings that became The Audience with Betty Carter, "Considered by some to be the finest vocal jazz recording ever made."
Verve Music Group

And she backed up those claims with her live performance on Saturday Night Live during its first season in 1976 and at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1977 and 1978. These performances helped Betty solidify her place in the world of Jazz as both a major vocal talent and a discoverer of new Jazz talent which included such names as John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, Mulgrew Miller, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Holland, Stephen Scott, Kenny Washington, Benny Green and more.

While on tour in the United States, Europe and South America she would seek out and listen to many others who she would invite to sit in practice sessions and during concerts.

Betty had finally found her calling as she began to focus her energies not only on her performance but on the future of Jazz as well. The 70's had come to an end and the 80s was now just over the horizon.
1930-1960
1980-1998