Paul Davis Biography
21 April 1948, Meridian, Mississippi, USA, d. 22 April 2008, Meridian, Mississippi, USA. Davis was spotted playing with his own country rock band, by the wife of Bert Berns of Bang Records in 1970, who signed him as a solo singer. Davis' first release, a cover version of the Jarmels' 1961 doo-wop hit "A Little Bit Of Soap", narrowly missed the US Top 50 the same year. For the next six years he concentrated on songwriting and achieved chart placings with, among others, "Ride 'Em Cowboy", "Thinking Of You" and "Superstar". In 1977, Singer Of Songs - Teller Of Tales spawned the ballad "I Go Crazy", which took from August until April the following year, an unbelievable eight months, to peak at number 7, spending 40 weeks in the US Top 100. In 1981 Davis moved to Arista Records and after adopting a "poppier style", reached the US Top 20 with "Cool Night" and the Top 10 with "'65 Love Affair". Davis later reverted back to his C&W roots and wrote, produced and duetted with Marie Osmond on two albums in the late 80s, but thereafter retired from performing. He had recently started on the comeback trail when he suffered a fatal heart attack in April 2008.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
|
