Featured In
ALBUMIn PersonBetty Carter
Albums by Betty Carter
ALBUMThe Music Never StopsBetty Carter
ALBUMTalking Jazz Volume 17 Voice 01Ben Sidran, Jon Hendricks & Betty Carter
ALBUMI'm Yours, You're MineBetty Carter
ALBUMFeed the FireBetty Carter
ALBUMIt's Not About the MelodyBetty Carter
ALBUMDroppin' ThingsBetty Carter
ALBUMLook What I GotBetty Carter
ALBUMWhatever Happened to Love?Betty Carter
ALBUMThe Betty Carter AlbumBetty Carter
ALBUMAt the Village VanguardBetty Carter
Artist Playlists
Betty Carter Essentials
Skill with scat was just one aspect of this vocalist's swinging genius.
Betty Carter: Deep Cuts
The scatting jazz innovator dazzles at any tempo.
Artist Biography
With her unique tone and fluid scatting abilities, jazz legend Betty Carter could sometimes sound almost as much like a trumpeter as a singer. Born in Flint, MI, in 1929 and raised in Detroit, she began singing and studying piano in her teens. Early in her career, Carter worked with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and she joined Lionel Hampton’s band in 1948. During this time, she began perfecting her scatting skills, though it caused conflict with Hampton, and she left the band in 1951. She released her first album under her own name in 1955, but it was her 1961 duo album with Ray Charles that made Carter famous, largely through the crossover pop success of the single “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Carter continued to refine her style over the years, bringing many new musicians to light along the way, including Cyrus Chestnut and Dave Holland. She maintained an active career right up to the end, losing her life to cancer in 1998.
Hometown
Flint, MI, United States
Genre
Jazz