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. "In those days, it was all about football, rodeo, and fistfights. Davis described his father, who was divorced from Davis' mother, as "very religious, very strict, and very stubborn." Though Davis was physically small, he had a penchant for getting into fistfights. He spent his childhood years with his sister Linda, living and working at the former College Courts, an efficiency apartment complex owned by his father. Through the '70s, Davis began developing his own career as a recording artist, scoring a Grammy nomination for his 1972 chart-topper "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me." By the middle of the decade, Davis was an ubiquitous quantity in American popular life, hosting his own variety show (like Sonny & Cher, Johnny Cash and many others) by its close, he had begun appearing in films, too.ĭavis' songwriting career peaked in the '70s, but his personal recording career reached its apex in the '80s, on the strength of such hits as "It's Hard To Be Humble" (cited by Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna in the song " Loyalty") and "Texas In My Rearview Mirror."Īs he sang in that latter song, "I thank God each and every day for giving me the music and the words to say." In a statement, his family confirmed that he will, per the song's closing lines, be buried in Lubbock, Texas, in blue jeans.Davis was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, the son of Edith Irene (Lankford) and T.
1 in the UK in a remix by Junkie XL.) Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Bobby Goldsboro and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition all subsequently had success with Davis-penned works. The combination yielded several hits, including "In the Ghetto," "Memories" and "Don't Cry Daddy." (Presley's first recording of a Davis song, "A Little Less Conversation" from 1968 and co-written with arranger and producer Billy Strange, wasn't an immediate success but went on to reach No.
His work in that capacity for Liberty Records eventually landed him in Los Angeles and in the orbit of Nancy Sinatra, who then hired him to write songs for her and her company.Īfter writing for Sinatra and the pop community around her, Davis' songs drew the attention of Elvis Presley, who was enjoying a comeback. It was there, around the age of 20, that Davis began performing in bands and writing songs while working as a "promotions man" for record labels, trying to secure radio play for their releases. At 16, upon graduating from high school, Davis left Lubbock to join his mother, Edith, in Atlanta. In all, he released 19 albums over 25 years, beginning with 1970's Song Painter and ending with 1994's Will Write Songs For Food.ĭavis was born in Texas on Jan. He was an inductee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and was a recipient of the BMI Icon Award. He was 78.ĭavis' songwriting work was recorded by dozens of artists, including Nancy Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire, Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard and more. His death was confirmed by his manager, Jim Morey.
HARD TO BE HUMBLE KENNY ROGERS DISCOGRAPHY MAC
Mac Davis, a songwriter and performer who began a decades-long ascent in music and entertainment in the early 1960s, died Tuesday in Nashville following heart surgery.