Mac Davis, 'Painter' Of Classic Songs, Dead At 78

[IceWizard]

Mac Davis, 'Painter' Of Classic Songs,
Dead At 78

September 30, 20201:09 PM ET



A portrait of Mac Davis taken on Oct. 12, 1981.
CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images



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. His death was confirmed by his
manager, Jim Morey.
He was 78.

Davis' 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. 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. 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.

Davis was born in Texas on Jan. 21, 1942. At 16, upon graduating from
high school, Davis left Lubbock to join his mother, Edith, in Atlanta. 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. 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.


Nancy Sinatra - Hello L A, Bye Bye Birmingham (Country, My Way)
One of the songs Mac Davis wrote for Nancy Sinatra
upon his arrival in Los Angeles.



After writing for Sinatra and the pop community around her, Davis'
songs drew the attention of Elvis Presley, who was enjoying a comeback.
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. 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.



Dolly Parton - White Limozeen
Davis penned songs for Dolly Parton well into the '90s




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.



Nick Nolte and Mac Davis in a scene from the film
North Dallas Forty from 1979.
Michael Ochs
Archives/Getty Images



Davis' 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."

As 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.


Mac Davis -Texas In My Rear View Mirror
"With my favorite jeans and a cheap guitar I ran off
chasing a distant star / If Buddy Holly could make it that far then
I figured I could too / I thought happiness was Lubbock Texas
in my rearview mirror..."

[Charon]

RIP in God's arms, sir. You will be missed.