Mac Davis
Davis performing at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Concert in 2010
Background information
Born	Morris Mac Davis (1942-01-21)January 21, 1942 Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
Died	September 29, 2020(2020-09-29) (aged 78) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Country, pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1962–2020
Labels	Columbia,Casablanca,MCA
Burial place	City of Lubbock Cemetery,Lubbock, Texas, U.S.

Morris Mac Davis^[1] (January 21, 1942 – September 29, 2020) was an American songwriter, singer, performer, and actor. A native ofLubbock, Texas, he enjoyed success as acrossover artist^[2] and writing forElvis Presley during his early career, providing him with the hits "Memories", "In the Ghetto", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "A Little Less Conversation". A subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me". Davis also starred in his own variety show, a Broadway musical, and various films and TV shows.^[3][4][5][6]

Davis was born and raised inLubbock, Texas as the son of Edith Irene (Lankford) and T. J. Davis, a building contractor.^[7]

Once Davis was settled in Atlanta, he organized arock and roll group called the Zots, and made two singles for OEK Records, managed and promoted by OEK owner Oscar Kilgo.^[3][4][5][8] Davis also worked for theVee Jay record company (home to such R&B stars asGene Chandler,Jerry Butler, andDee Clark) as a regional manager and later became a regional manager forLiberty Records.^[2]

Davis became famous as a songwriter and got his start as an employee ofNancy Sinatra's company, Boots Enterprises, Inc. Davis was with Boots for several years in the late 1960s. During his time there, he played on many of Sinatra's recordings, and she worked him into her stage shows. Boots Enterprises also acted as Davis's publishing company, publishing songs such as "In the Ghetto", "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife", "Home", and "Memories", which were recorded byElvis Presley,Nancy Sinatra,B. J. Thomas and many others. During a short timespan Davis used the pseudonym "Scott Davis" for songwriting purposes (borrowing from the given name of his son) to avoid confusion with songwriterMack David.^[9] Davis left Boots Enterprises in 1970 to sign withColumbia Records, taking all of his songs with him.^[3][4][5]

One of the songs he wrote in 1968, called "A Little Less Conversation", was recorded by Elvis Presley (and became a posthumous success for Presley years later). Presley also recorded Davis's "In the Ghetto" in sessions in Memphis. Mac Davis eventually recorded the tune after Presley's version became a success, and was released in a Ronco In Concert compilation in 1975. Presley continued to record more of Davis's material, such as "Memories", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "Clean Up Your Own Backyard".Bobby Goldsboro also recorded some of Davis's songs, including "Watching Scotty Grow",^[2] which became a No. 1Adult Contemporary success for Goldsboro in 1971. Other artists who recorded his material includedVikki Carr,O.C. Smith, andKenny Rogers andThe First Edition. "I Believe in Music", often considered to be Davis'ssignature song, was recorded by several artists (including Marian Love, B.J. Thomas,Louis Jordan,Perry Como,Helen Reddy,Lynn Anderson, and Davis himself) before it finally became a success in 1972 for the groupGallery.^[3][4][5]

During the 1970s, many of his songs "crossed over", successfully scoring on both the country and popular music charts, including "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me"^[2] (a number one Grammy-nominated success), "One Hell of a Woman" (pop no. 11), and "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a no. 9 pop hit).^[2] Also, during the 1970s and 1980s, he was very active as an actor, appearing in several movies, including 1979'sNorth Dallas Forty, as well as hosting a successful variety show. In 2010, Davis co-wrote the song "Time Flies" with Rivers Cuomo which appeared on Weezer'sHurley album. In 2013 he was part of the Los Angeles writing and producing team that created the hit "Young Girls" for Bruno Mars.^[10] Davis also wrote and collaborated with the Swedish D.J. and music producer Avicii, penning the song "Addicted to You" for Avicii's debut studio albumTrue. They performed the song "Black and Blue" together at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami in 2013.

Davis soon decided to pursue a career of his own as a recording artist. After several years of writing songs for other artists, he was signed byClive Davis for Columbia, later topping the Country and Pop charts with the song "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" in 1972. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by theRecording Industry Association of America in September 1972.^[11]

In 1974, Davis was awarded theAcademy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award. He had other successes including the songs "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a number one Adult Contemporary success in 1974) (pop no. 9), "One Hell of a Woman" (pop no. 11), "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" (pop no. 15), and "Burnin' Thing" (pop no. 53). At the end of the 1970s, he was signed by Neil Bogart and moved to Casablanca Records, which was best known at the time for its successes with disco star Donna Summer and rock'n'roll band Kiss. His first success for the company in 1980 was the novelty song "It's Hard to Be Humble", a light-hearted look at how popularity and good looks could go to one's head. The song became his first Country music top 10 and a rare top 30 hit in the UK. (It was translated into Dutch as "Het is moeilijk bescheiden te blijven" and became a hit for the Dutch singer Peter Blanker in 1981). Later that year, he had another top 10 song with "Let's Keep It That Way" written by Curly Putman and Rafe Van Hoy. In November, "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" was played byKHJ in Los Angeles as its last song before it switched from Top 40 to Country music.^[12] He achieved success with other songs like "Texas in My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked on Music", which became his biggest Country music success in 1981 going to number 2. In 1985, he recorded his last top 10 country music success with the song "I Never Made Love (Till I Made Love With You)".^[13]

On January 19, 1985, Davis performed "God Bless the USA" at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, held the day before thesecond inauguration of Ronald Reagan.^[13]

From 1974 to 1976, Davis had his own television variety show onNBC,The Mac Davis Show.^[13] He made his feature film debut oppositeNick Nolte in thefootball filmNorth Dallas Forty (1979)^[14] and was listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1979" byScreen World magazine.^{[citation needed]}

In 1980, Davis hosted an episode ofThe Muppet Show.^[15] He performed "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me", "It's Hard To Be Humble", and "I Believe in Music".^{[citation needed]}

Davis also starred in the 1981 comedy filmCheaper To Keep Her, playing a divorced detective who worked for a neurotic feminist attorney.

In 1983, he appeared inThe Sting II, as Jake Hooker, a younger relative of Johnny Hooker, portrayed by Robert Redford inThe Sting.^[3][4][5]

In November 1991, Davis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, marking the beginning of his commitment to sobriety. Exactly four months later, he performed asWill Rogers in theBroadway production ofThe Will Rogers Follies at the Palace Theater, noting that it was his first-ever sober performance. Following each show, Davis shared his journey to sobriety and urged anyone battling addiction to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He continued to play Will Rogers for over a year during the show's national tour.^[16]

In 1998, Davis starred in the sports comedyPossums, which debuted at theSundance Film Festival.Davis served as the balladeer for the 2000 telefilmThe Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood, replacingDon Williams, who had served the part in 1997'sThe Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! andWaylon Jennings, who narrated the originalDukes of Hazzard television show. Davis was the first balladeer to appear on-screen to welcome the audience and provide exposition.^[6]Davis was inducted into theNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. He was awarded a star symbol on theHollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7080Hollywood Boulevard, for his contribution to the recording industry.^[3][4][5]

In 2001, Davis played a fellow karaoke competitor toJon Gries's Sunny Holiday in thePolish brothers' filmJackpot. In the film, a dispute began between Sunny's manager, played byGarrett Morris, and Davis's character about what song he should sing. The manager suggested Davis's "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me", which Davis's character claimed just was not him.^{[citation needed]}

From 2001 to 2003, Davis voiced the character of Barber Bingo on two episodes of the animated TV seriesOswald; "Henry Needs A Haircut" and "The Naughty Cat".^{[citation needed]}

Between 1999 and 2006, Davis provided the character voices of Sheriff Buford (two episodes) and a talk radio host named "Sports Jock" (three episodes), on the animated seriesKing of the Hill.^{[citation needed]}

Davis also guest-starred briefly in the8 Simple Rules episode "Let's Keep Going: Part 2" in April 2004.^{[citation needed]}

He had a recurring role as Rodney Carrington's father-in-law in the sitcomRodney.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, Davis hostedLabor of Love, a live FM radio show for KZLA Los Angeles.

At 21, he married Fran Cook from Georgia. Their son, Joel Scott, (Scotty in "Watching Scotty Grow") was born a year later; Davis shifted from playing in rock bands to learning the music business while working in Liberty Records' publishing division.^[2] The Liberty job got him to Los Angeles and made it easier to "pitch his own tunes" to record producers. Davis commented, "One day Fran decided to do her own thing and she wanted me to do mine." They divorced and she went back to Atlanta.^{[citation needed]}

Davis next met Sarah Barg, then 16 and living in his apartment building with her mother. Two years later, they were married. "We talked about having a family, but I was waiting for her to grow up," he says. She left him in 1976 forGlen Campbell, with whom she then had one child, Dillon. She also left Campbell shortly after Dillon's birth.

In 1979, Davis started to date a young nurse, Lise Gerard.^{[3][4][5][17]} They married in 1983 when she was 25, and they had two children, Noah Claire and Cody Luke.^[18] They remained married until Davis' death at age 78 on September 29, 2020, following heart surgery.^{[3][4][5][19][20]}

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• Wolff, Kurt.The Rough Guide to Country Music. Penguin Publishing.ISBN 978-1858285344

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMac Davis.

• Mac Davis discography atDiscogs
• Nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com
• Songwritershalloffame.org
• Interview with Mac Davis
• Mac Davis atAllMusic
• Mac Davis atIMDb 

• 1942 births
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• American country rock singers
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• American male film actors
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• Jamie Records artists
• Lubbock High School alumni
• Male actors from Lubbock, Texas
• Musicians from Lubbock, Texas
• Singer-songwriters from Texas
• Vee-Jay Records artists
• Country musicians from Texas

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