Betty Padgett

Sweet-voiced South Florida R&B diva Betty Padgett spent decades as a working performer and occasional recording artist yet registered only brief, occasional notice even among committed soul and funk collectors until lately. She entered the world in Newport, NJ, and moved to Florida beginning in sixth grade, tracing the familiar route that led from church choir singing to live performances. Deeply involved in the vibrant early-'70s Florida funk community, she formed the all-female ensemble Betty & the Q's and, in 1971, joined the Fort Lauderdale-based Joey Gilmore & the T.C.B. Express, touring both domestically and abroad with that group for the following seventeen years. Following a 1974 hometown performance, local soul legend Milton Wright offered his assistance in starting her solo career, co-writing and arranging the songs that became her first album, which was captured in one night when Padgett was twenty-one. The resulting LP blended mellow soul, uptempo funk, and sultry steady-rocking reggae in a manner far beyond her years, though the highlight remained the two-part disco groover "Sugar Daddy," issued on 12-inch and achieving strong regional traction, placement in a Pepsi commercial, and reach as far as Belize, where she promoted the record on tour. Still, the album—known interchangeably by its hit single or by Padgett's own name—failed to break through widely, leaving her on the regional circuit long after the disco years, where she appeared alongside Gwen McRae, Joe Tex, Denise LaSalle, and Bobby Bland while issuing albums only sporadically: the disco-fied Sweet Feeling in 1981, 30 Second Man in 1998, Closet Lover in 2004, and Never Coming Home in 2006. Unexpectedly, 2009 brought renewed attention when Luv N' Haight reissued the debut LP along with the "Sugar Daddy" 12-inch after a crate-digging L.A. DJ unearthed the material, marking the first high-profile national release for the original recording.