Betty Davis has released her first new song in 40 years. “A Little Bit Hot Tonight” marks the R&B legend’s first song since 1979. It was first conceptualized in the early 1980s while Davis was living and performing in Japan, but it wasn’t until earlier this year she finally produced and arranged the track with local musicians in her hometown of Pittsburgh. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Davis said of the song, “It was inspired by a musician named [Itsuroh] Shimoda from Japan. I took the East and blended it with the West and we came up with a good blend for the production of the song.”
“A Little Bit Hot Tonight” is sung by Davis’ friend Danielle Maggio, who is a ethnomusicology doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. “She taught me the song line by line sitting at her kitchen table,” Maggio told the Post-Gazette. “She told me exactly how to sing it, what inflection to make with my voice, how to phrase, everything! She was in charge.” Listen below. All proceeds from the song go to the Betty Davis Scholarship, an annual award for a graduating senior who is pursuing music at her alma mater of Steel Valley High School.
Last year, Davis’ 1975 major label debut Nasty Gal received a vinyl reissue.
