Vocalist Betty Carter, Atlanta, c. 1982.

Courtesy of Enid Farber Fotography.

 

“I Could Write A Book”

Betty Carter

1980

“It was very important in those days” said Betty Carter of her early career in the 1950s, “for a musician or a singer to become an individual. You had to be yourself if you were going to succeed.” Few singers succeeded in creating as original and distinctive a style.