Before receiving the advance of Joi Gilliam’s brilliant, but cancelled sophomore album Amoeba Cleansing Syndrome in 1996, I’d never heard of black rocker Betty Davis. “She never had a hit record, so a lot of people don’t know who she is,” explains Joi, who is currently on the road with D’Angelo and the Vanguard. “In her music, you can hear the passion and artistry as well as the complexity and discipline. But, most of all, there is also a sense of freedom.”

20 years ago, as Joi was mentally collecting ideas for her second album, that sense of musical freedom began swirling through her mind as well. “Prior to hearing her, the only people I felt kindred to in that way was Minnie Riperton, LaBelle and Sade, but Betty Davis was the missing link. Listening to her voice, I felt as though I’d been adopted, but now I had found my natural soul mama.”

Joi Ellen Gilliam was discovered in her native Nashville by producer/songwriter Dallas Austin in 1992. In Tennessee, her mother, Beverly, worked for the sheriff’s department and her father, Joe, was a former superstar NFL quarterback who eventually fell victim to drug addiction. Her parents divorced when she was seven or eight, but until the day he died in 2006, she was daddy’s little girl. “I used to ride with him in the car listening to Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters album,” Joi remembers, “but it was my mother who took me to a P-Funk concert when I was six; I guess she couldn’t find a babysitter.”

Austin was introduced to Joi by a studio engineer in her hometown. At the time, she had short dyed blonde hair. “I come from a family of sharp ladies,” Joi says. “So, even when I’m ratchet, I try to be elegant. My mom and grandmom taught me to be fashionably competent.” Back in the ’90s, Joi’s style varied from thrift-store chic to boho b-girl to leather pants-wielding rocker chick. Joi was hanging out at local studios, just messing around with music. What she heard sounded nothing like the young producer had done before.

http://daily.redbullmusic...oi-feature

Joi is the Bomb.

She was the opening act for Raphael Saddiq back in 2000 and she really blew me away. Her live set was just sick.

It took me YEARS 2 track down her last cd, Tennessee Slim but I finally tracked it down this past year.

Graycap23 said:

Too short a career!!! One of my all time favorite artists. EVER.

The only person who covered a Chaka Song better than Chaka...I'm a Woman (I'm a Backbone).

I would love to hear what Lucy Pearl would have sounded like with her.

I remember seeing her in VIBE a lot.

Finally heard these two albums and WOW.

Anyone who can masterfully cover Labelle and Betty Davis is definitely great.