ArtistInfo

Bettye Miller

p, US
Singer / Musician of Jazz and Blues
A.k.a. Bettye Wilson

Bettye Miller was an American jazz pianist and singer. She was born Bettye Wilson September 12, 1927 in Clinton, Missouri, to Bernis and Maude Wilson. She attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts and master’s degree in music. After finishing school she taught music in Philadelphia for two years. She began her music career with Ethel Waters and Ada Brown and while in Philadelphia, she won the Bok Award for music. Bettye married her first husband Joel Miller and they had one daughter together, Betty Jo Miller. In the late 1940s Miller moved to Kansas City, where she started a trio with drummer Wallace Jones and bassist Milt Abel, her future husband. Miller and Abel began their twenty-plus-year musical romance when they met in 1953. The duo played faithfully at local Kansas City venues such as the Horseshoe Lounge, the Plaza III Restaurant, Putsch’s 210 and the Strawberry Patch as well as national venues such as the Ember’s in New York, Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago and the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. During their years together they also released several recordings. On February 28, 1977, Bettye Miller died of cancer at age 49.

Instruments

• Piano
• Vocals

Genres

• Jazz
• Blues

Plays With

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