He was a singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and producer born Paul Lavon Davis
in Meridian, Mississippi.He
started out in the mid 1960s with the bands Six Soul Survivors and Endless
Chain and after being spotted by Bert Berns he was signed to Bang Records
in 1969.His first single
release was "A Little Bit of Soap" and several others followed.In 1972 he issued the album A
Little Bit of Paul Davis and followed it up with Ride 'Em Cowboy
where he became associated with the title song.He released further albums and 1977 saw his biggest
chart success with the song "I Go Crazy" which remained in the Top 100
chart for over 40 weeks.This
was followed by the Top 20 hit "Sweet Life" and changing his record label
in 1981 to Arista he achieved a further two hits in the Top 20 charts, "65
Love Affair" and "Cool Night". He survive and
attempted shooting in Nashville in 1986 and returned to his country music roots in the late '80s when
teamed up with Marie Osmond on two duets and began recording country music
again.
He also worked with many groups and artists as a session singer and
these include J.J. Cale, Crystal Gayle, Happy Mondays, Nicolette
Larson
,
Patty Loveless, Melissa Manchester, Willie Nelson, Dan Seals, Hank Snow,
Randy Travis and Tanya Tucker among others. Albums he appeared on during the
course of his career include his own Cool Night, Southern Tracks &
Fantasies and Singer of Songs...Teller Of Tales and also Champagne
Jam by Atlanta
Rhythm Section , the soundtrack of About Last Night and many more. He
passed away in his home town of Meridian after suffering a
heart attack on 22nd April 2008, the day after
his 60th birthday.
