Mac Davis

Morris Mac Davis was born on January 21, 1942, in Lubbock, Texas, the son of Edith Irene (Lankford) and T. J. Davis, a building contractor. He died on September 29, 2020. Over the course of his career, Davis worked as a songwriter, singer, performer, and actor, achieving recognition across country and popular music as well as in television, film, and on Broadway.

Davis began his professional life in the music industry after relocating to Atlanta, where he formed a rock and roll group called the Zots and recorded two singles for OEK Records. He subsequently worked as a regional manager for both Vee Jay Records and Liberty Records before joining Nancy Sinatra's company, Boots Enterprises, Inc., in the late 1960s. Through Boots, Davis contributed to Sinatra's recordings and stage shows while the company published several of his compositions, among them "In the Ghetto," "Memories," "Home," and "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife." During this period he briefly used the songwriting pseudonym "Scott Davis" — drawn from his son's given name — to avoid confusion with songwriter Mack David. He departed Boots Enterprises in 1970 to sign with Columbia Records, taking his catalog of songs with him.

Davis's songwriting brought Elvis Presley a series of notable recordings. "A Little Less Conversation," written in 1968, was recorded by Presley and later became a posthumous hit. Presley also recorded "In the Ghetto," cut during Memphis sessions, along with "Memories," "Don't Cry Daddy," and "Clean Up Your Own Backyard." Beyond Presley, Davis's material reached a wide range of artists: Bobby Goldsboro recorded "Watching Scotty Grow," which reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1971, while Vikki Carr, O.C. Smith, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, and B.J. Thomas also recorded his songs. His composition "I Believe in Music" was covered by numerous artists before the group Gallery took it to success in 1972.

Signed to Columbia by Clive Davis, he launched his own recording career and topped both the country and pop charts in 1972 with "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me," a Grammy-nominated single that sold over one million copies and earned a gold disc from the Recording Industry Association of America in September of that year. Additional charting singles followed, including "Stop and Smell the Roses," a number one Adult Contemporary hit and number nine pop hit in 1974; "One Hell of a Woman," which reached number eleven on the pop chart; "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" at number fifteen; and "Burnin' Thing" at number fifty-three. In 1974, the Academy of Country Music named him Entertainer of the Year. After signing with Casablanca Records at the end of the decade, Davis placed the novelty song "It's Hard to Be Humble" in the country top ten in 1980, and the song also reached the top thirty in the United Kingdom. That same year, "Let's Keep It That Way," written by Curly Putman and Rafe Van Hoy, gave him another country top ten. His 1981 single "Hooked on Music" climbed to number two on the country chart, and in 1985 he recorded his final country top ten with "I Never Made Love (Till I Made Love With You)." In 2010, Davis co-wrote "Time Flies" with Rivers Cuomo, which appeared on Weezer's Hurley album. He was part of the Los Angeles team that created "Young Girls" for Bruno Mars in 2013, and that same year he collaborated with Swedish DJ and producer Avicii on the song "Addicted to You," which appeared on Avicii's debut studio album True. Davis and Avicii also performed "Black and Blue" together at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami in 2013.

On television, Davis hosted The Mac Davis Show on NBC from 1974 to 1976. In 1980, he hosted an episode of The Muppet Show, performing "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me," "It's Hard to Be Humble," and "I Believe in Music." He made his feature film debut alongside Nick Nolte in the 1979 football drama North Dallas Forty and was listed among Screen World magazine's twelve promising new actors of that year. Subsequent film appearances included the 1981 comedy Cheaper to Keep Her, in which he played a divorced detective, and The Sting II in 1983, where he portrayed Jake Hooker, a younger relative of the character Robert Redford had played in the original film. In 1998, Davis appeared in the sports comedy Possums, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. He served as the on-screen balladeer for the 2000 telefilm The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood, the first person to appear on-screen in that role in the franchise. On January 19, 1985, Davis performed "God Bless the USA" at the Presidential Inaugural Gala held the day before Ronald Reagan's second inauguration.

In November 1991, Davis entered the Betty Ford Clinic, beginning his commitment to sobriety. Four months later, he made his Broadway debut in The Will Rogers Follies at the Palace Theater, playing Will Rogers — a production he later described as his first sober performance. Following each performance, Davis spoke to audiences about his path to sobriety and encouraged those struggling with addiction to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He continued in the role for over a year during the show's national tour, with his Broadway run spanning 1991 to 1992. Davis was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the recording industry.