Mac Davis

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Mac Davis
Birth name Scott Davis
Also known as Mac Davis
Born January 21, 1942 (1942-01-21) (age 66)
Origin Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
Genre(s) Country Music/Pop Music
Occupation(s) singer/songwriter/actor
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 1972-Present
Label(s) MCA
Associated acts Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley, Crystal Gayle

Scott Davis, known as Mac Davis (born January 21, 1942), is a country music singer and songwriter originally from Lubbock, Texas, who has enjoyed much pop music crossover success. He became one of the most successful country singers of the 1970s and 1980s. He is also an actor. In 2008, Davis will appear with Barry Corbin, who grew up in Lubbock, in a Toby Keith film, Beer for My Horses.

Contents

[edit] Career as a songwriter

Mac Davis initially rose to fame as a songwriter, having early success with the 1969 song for Elvis Presley called "In the Ghetto". He later proved to the public that he was more than just a songwriter, but also a Country singer. Especially in the 1970s, many of his songs found success on the country and pop charts alike, including "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" (a number one hit), "One Hell of a Woman" (Pop #11), and "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a #9 Pop hit). In the 1970s, he also was active as an actor, hosting his own variety show during this time and also appearing in several movies.

Davis graduated at sixteen from Lubbock High School. He spent his childhood years, with his sister Linda, living and working at the former College Courts, a motel which his father had purchased located at the intersection of University and Fifth avenues. Davis describes his father, who was divorced from Davis' mother, as "very religious, very strict, very stubborn." Though Davis was physically small, he had a penchant for getting into fistfights. "In those days, it was all about football, rodeo and fistfights. . . . Oh, man, I got beat up so much while I was growing up in Lubbock," Davis said in a March 2, 2008, interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper. "I was 5 feet, 9 inches, and weighed 125 pounds. I joined Golden Gloves but didn't do good even in my division." After he finished high school, Davis moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where his mother lived.[1]

In Atlanta, Davis played rock and roll music. He also worked for the Vee Jay record company (home to R&B stars such as Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler and Dee Clark) as a regional manager, and later also served as a regional manager for Liberty Records. In the meantime, Davis was also writing songs. One of the songs he wrote in 1968, called "A Little Less Conversation," was recorded by Elvis Presley (and would become a posthumous hit for Presley many years later). Shortly after, Elvis recorded Davis' song "In the Ghetto" in his sessions in Memphis. According to maverick record Producer Jimmy Bowen, "Ghetto" was originally pitched to Sammy Davis Jr. Mac, guitar in hand, played the song for Davis in a studio, with onlookers such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and other members of the black activist community. Mac, the only white man in the room at the time would eventually tell Bowen "I don't know whether to thank ya, or to kill ya." Davis never recorded the tune. The song became a hit for Elvis and he continued to record more of Mac's material, like "Memories" and "Don't Cry Daddy". Bobby Goldsboro also recorded some of Mac's songs, like "Watching Scotty Grow," which became a number one Adult Contemporary hit for Goldsboro in 1971. Other artists that recorded his material included O.C. Smith and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition. "I Believe In Music," often considered to be Davis' signature song, was recorded by several artists (including Marian Love and Davis himself) before it finally became a hit in 1972 for the group Gallery.

[edit] Success as a singer

Mac soon decided to pursue a career in Country music. He was soon signed to Columbia Records in 1970. His big success came two years later in 1972 when he topped the Country and Pop charts with the hit song "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me".

Mac's work in music seemed sometimes to be overtly sexual. For example, "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" (in which he pleads with a woman not to get too attached to him because he doesn't want to commit to a full-time relationship with her) was one of them, as well as other hit songs like "Naughty Girl" and "Baby Spread Your Love on Me". He wasn't alone in this; many country songs popular in the 1970s and 1980s featured sexual overtones.

In 1974, Mac was awarded the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award. Some of Davis' other hits included "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a number one Adult Contemporary hit in 1974), "One Hell of a Woman," and "Burnin' Thing". At the end of the 1970s, he moved to Casablanca Records, which had now gone into country music and was known primarily for its success with disco diva Donna Summer and rockers Kiss (band). His first hit for the label in 1980 was the novelty hit "It's Hard To Be Humble" which became his first country Top 10. He also had another Top 10 with "Let's Keep It That Way" later in the year. He achieved other hit songs like "Texas In My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked on Music" which became his biggest country hit in 1981 going to #2. In 1985, he recorded his very last Top Ten country hit with the song "I Never Made Love (Till I Made Love With You)".

[edit] Acting career

From 1974 to 1976, Davis had his own television variety show on NBC, The Mac Davis Show. He made his feature film debut opposite Nick Nolte in the football film, North Dallas Forty (1979) and as a result, was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1979" by Screen World magazine. This proved that Mac could have success in not just singing and songwriting, but also as an actor. He soon became well known for all three of these careers.

Mac Davis played Will Rogers in the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies. Mac Davis was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Blvd. At this point there seemed that there was nothing that Mac Davis couldn't do.

In 1980, Davis hosted an episode of The Muppet Show. [1]

Davis served as the balladeer for the 2000 telefilm The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood, replacing Don Williams, who served the part in 1997's The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!, and Waylon Jennings, who narrated the original Dukes of Hazzard TV show. Davis was the first balladeer to appear on screen to welcome the audience and provide exposition.

From 1999 to 2004, Davis voiced the characters Sheriff Buford (two episodes) and talk radio host, "the Sports Jock" (two episodes), on the animated series King of the Hill.

Davis also guest starred briefly in the 8 Simple Rules episode Let's Keep Going, Part II in April 2004 and also had a recurring role as Rodney Carrington's father-in-law on the sitcom Rodney

[edit] Decline and comeback

By the mid-1980s, his career in music was declining. His chart success was falling rapidly; Davis was one of many Country singers who had Pop music crossover success in the 70s and 80s whose careers slowed down to make way for artists like Garth Brooks and Clint Black. After Casablanca Records closed down, Davis recorded for a short period of time with MCA Records in the mid 1980s. In 1990, he gained attention when he helped write the hit song for Dolly Parton called "White Limozeen". That same year, he also was on Broadway, performing in the show The Will Rogers Follies. Mac Davis was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2006.

Davis is honored by the naming of Mac Davis Lane at Avenue O in his native Lubbock, which he still visits on occasion. He now describes the golf course as his office.

[edit] Some famous quotes

  • "Elvis was just like a big old kid. It was like he never got past 19, I don't think, in a lotta ways."
  • "Don't Cry Daddy" is a pretty sad song. He got to the end of it and it was just real quiet when Elvis says, I'm gonna cut that someday for my daddy. And, by God he did. He lived up to his word."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Selected hit singles

Year Single Album U.S. Country U.S. Pop
1970 "I'll Paint You a Song" Mac Davis 68 -
1970 "Whoever Finds This I Love You" Song Painter 43 53
1971 "Beginning to Feel the Pain" Mac Davis - 92
1972 "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me 26 1
1972 "Everybody Loves a Love Song" Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me - 63
1973 "Dream Me Home" Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me 47 73
1974 "One Hell of a Woman" Stop and Smell the Roses - 11
1974 "Stop and Smell the Roses" Stop and Smell the Roses 40 9
1975 "Burnin' Thing" Greatest Hits 31 53
1975 "Rock'N Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" All the Love In the World 29 15
1976 "Forever Lovers" Forever Lovers 17 76
1978 "Music In My Life" Fantasy 92 -
1980 "It's Hard to Be Humble" It's Hard to Be Humble 10 43
1980 "Let's Keep It That Way" It's Hard to Be Humble 10 -
1981 "Texas In My Rearview Mirror" Texas In My Rearview Mirror 9 51
1981 "Hooked on Music" Texas In My Rearview Mirror 2 -
1981 "Secrets" Texas In My Rearview Mirror 47 76
1982 "Rodeo Clown" Texas In My Rearview Mirror 37 -
1982 "You're My Bestest Friend" Midnight Crazy 5 -
1984 "Most of All" Soft Talk 41 -
1985 "I Feel the Country Callin' Me" Till I Made It With You 34 -
1985 "I Never Made Love (Till I Made It With You)" Till I Made It With You 10 -
1986 "Sexy Young Girl" Till I Made It With You 46 -

[edit] Selected albums

Year Album U.S. Country
1970 Song Painter 35
1972 Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me 27
1973 Mac Davis 19
1974 Stop and Smell the Roses 2
1975 All the Love In the World 6
1975 Burnin' Thing 9
1976 Forever Lovers 11
1977 Thunder In the Afternoon 38
1978 Fantasy 43
1980 Greatest Hits 44
1980 It's Hard to Be Humble 3
1981 Texas In My Rearview Mirror 12
1982 Midnight Crazy 19
1985 Till I Made It With You 48
2000 Country Spotlight -
2000 The Best -

[edit] Selected filmography

Mac Davis played small roles in the following TV shows and movies:

[edit] Sources

  • Country Music:The Rough Guide; Wolff, Kurt; Penguin Publishing
  • All Music Guide

[edit] External links

  1. ^ Mac Davis remembers his days in Lubbock | A-J ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
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