Thursday, September 20, 2007


Mac Davis (born Scott Davis, January 21, 1942, in Lubbock, Texas) is a country music singer and songwriter, who has enjoyed much pop music crossover success. He became one of the most successful country singers of the 1970s and 80s and also was an actor.

Career as a songwriter
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 had gone into country music and was known primarily for its success with disco diva Donna Summer. 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 "Lubbock 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)".

Success as a singer
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.
Davis also guest starred briefly in the 8 Simple Rules episode Let's Keep Going, Part II in April 2004.

Mac Davis Acting career
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 of 2006.

Decline and comeback

"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." Some famous quotes

Discography

Selected filmography

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

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