Betty Padgett is a singer, songwriter, and performing artist, who followed the well worn path from church choir to the concert stage. She realized at an early age her gift of writing songs and her love of performing before a live audience. Her repertoire of music includes blues, funk, gospel, and R & B. Betty is a skilled singer, whose forceful raw energy and style of performance have captivated audiences from Florida to Europe.
During the disco era and beyond, Betty Padgett shared the stage with blues artist such as Gwen McRae, Joe Tex, Denise LaSalle, and Bobby Bland, etc. In 1974, she released her first album Sugar Daddy. The standout cut was "Sugar Daddy," a two-part disco groove that was pressed as a 12" record and became a regional hit, featured in a Pepsi commercial. In 2009, Luv N' Haight Records, reissued her first record, Sugar Daddy, thereby giving the album its first high-profile national release.
Over the decades Betty Padgett has released several albums with her original songs, 1981 ‘Sweet Feeling,’ 1998 ‘30 Second Man,’ 2004 ‘Closet Lover,’ and 2006 ‘Never Coming Home.’ In June 2018, she released her first original gospel CD, ‘My Personal Walk With God.’ Her first contemporary blues CD, ‘Ridin With The Blues,’ was released on January 1, 2022 with all original songs that are a soulful reflection of her life experiences.
On September 19, 2021, Betty Padgett, performing two cover songs and three of her own original songs, became the first black female artist to win the South Florida Blues Society IBC competition. Today, Betty Padgett is very active writing songs, performing with her band, and as lead vocalist with other bands here in the South Florida music scene.
Alan Mercer: Betty, you are all the rage in South Florida. Have you lived there a long time?
Betty Padgett: I’ve lived in Florida most of my life.
AM: You are at home there.
BP: I’m at home.
AM: Everybody knows who you are there.
BP: I’m sure they do. I hope they do.
AM: I want to know how did your latest Blues album came about?
BP: I have always loved Southern Soul music and a lot of it is more raunchy music. It’s for adults only. So, I got into that. Then I decided I wanted to do a real Blues album that would be radio friendly and played on any radio station. A lot of Southern Soul cannot be played on the radio because of the nature of the song. I had never done this before so I sat down and started thinking of song titles and I started writing. That’s when the album became alive.
AM: Did you write all the songs?
BP: I did.
AM: Wow! Did you write songs on your other albums?
BP: I have written songs on every album I put out except two of the earlier ones, but all my CDs have songs I wrote. I do all my writing.
AM: What is your writing process like?
BP: I have a couple of people I work with who write my music and then send it to me and if I like what they send me, I get my title, and when I get my title, I’m ready. It just comes that easy when there is a tile in my head. Sometimes it takes me a week or two and sometimes it only takes me a day.
AM: Where do you record your tracks?
BP: I record all over the area. I have recorded in Miami and Tampa as well as Fort Lauderdale.
AM: Is your song, ‘Old School Blues’ personal?
BP: Yes, it is.
AM: You are this gifted songwriter, and you also do magical things with your cover songs.
BP: I try to put my Betty Padgett signature on whatever I sing. I never want to sing it like the original artist. I want to put a little twist on it and make it mine.
AM: I like how you bring life back to some of these songs. Sometimes when you have heard a song so many times, it loses some of it’s bite. You make them fresh again.
BP: Thank you so much. You are making my day so good.
AM: By the way, I notice you are up very early for an entertainer who works at night.
BP: I get up early every day. I’m not a late sleeper. I got to be on my feet and moving around outside by 9:00 AM.
AM: But don’t you work pretty late on weekends?
BP: Sometimes I do, but’s not as much as I did in my early days. I was always on the road, and I had a day job. I would take off on Friday and we would travel to wherever we may be going, and I’d be back by Monday morning at 9:00 at my job. That was the early years. I’m not going to do that anymore. (Laughter)
AM: Do you ever leave the South Florida area for work?
BP: No, not really. I do have a couple of gigs coming up in Alabama, that’s about as far as I go now. I am ready to travel.
AM: You could do a tour in Texas.
BP: I would love to perform in Texas. My kids are there too, so that would be perfect for me.
AM: Betty! We have to get you performing in Texas! Talk to me about your tribute to Chess Records on your new album.
BP: I was trying to think about titles for songs and my husband mentioned that nobody ever wrote a song about Chess Records. That was such a good era. We saw the movie and it was just so good. He told me I should think about writing something like that. I threw it to the side for a moment and then I started writing and everything started coming to mind and I knew I could write it. That’s how it came about.
AM: It’s a great closer on your album. I love ‘Everybody Wanna Dance.’
BP: (Laughing) That was a random song that I wrote and I needed to fill the CD.
AM: Wow, it doesn’t sound like filler.
BP: It was a filler, it was! (Laughing)
AM: Betty, I have 9 of your albums. How many have you recorded?
BP: I think I’ve recorded twelve.
AM: Your first album from 1975 is a classic now.
BP: Yes, it really is. I’m just amazed how it revived itself and took off again. That was a very well-produced album on CD.
AM: Your Gospel album, ‘My Personal Walk With God’ is so wonderful to listen to. It seems like it came out of nowhere.
BP: It did come out of nowhere. I had always wanted to do a Gospel CD. Every word on that CD is my personal thoughts. I talk to God all the time, so I wanted to put down my words when I’m thanking him and what I talk to God about.
AM: It must be very fulfilling and satisfying to have that project completed.
BP: It really is. I am very proud of that CD. I got a chance to talk to God in song.
AM: I love all the videos you have on YouTube! It looks like you’re standing in front of a green screen singing your heart out.
BP: Thank you, that’s all my husband’s idea. One day he told me we were going to start doing videos. That was during the pandemic when we had nothing to do. He suggested I just sing and make some videos. He went out and bought all the equipment and put little ole me in front of the green screen and there I was. I enjoyed making them so much. I want to do more now, but everything has opened back up and everyone is busy again. He doesn’t have time to do that right now.
AM: Your husband, Larry must be your biggest fan.
BP: He is my biggest fan. I couldn’t ask for a better husband than him. He is always passionate about what I do and he’s always willing to help in whatever way he can. He’s always willing to go above and beyond. Even though I’ve been doing this for years and years, to him, it seems like I’m just starting out. He’s trying to blow me up again and that makes me very, very happy.
AM: Did he have any experience with this?
BP: He did this without any experience. He reads a lot and does a lot of research. The man is amazing.
AM: How long have you been together?
BP: Our third anniversary is coming up. We just ran off to Las Vegas and got married. My first husband had passed three years earlier. Larry went around making videos of all the female singers in this town and one night he happened to be where I was. I never had anyone take videos of me before and I was so happy. I texted him thank you Mr. Larry. After that I saw him popping up at my shows and one night he asked me if I was married and I told him I was a widow and he said he was sorry. Thirty minutes later he asked me out to dinner and that was the beginning of everything. I didn’t know this was going to happen. I was prepared to live the rest of my life alone, but God had another blessing for me. I thank God every day for sending me somebody who would be very good to me. That’s my love story.
AM: You’ve done something right in your life.
BP: That’s what I said to God. I must have done something right. I don’t know what I did but thank you.
AM: Are you recording again?
BP: As a matter of fact, I am putting out 2 singles and one is called ‘A Tick On A Big Dogs Back’ and it’s going to release on May 1.
