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 survived an 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.
Atlanta Rhythm Section recordings
The Ballad of Lois Malone ( Buddy Buie/Robert Nix/ Dean Daughtry / Barry Bailey )
Champagne Jam (Buddy Buie /Robert Nix /J.R. Cobb )
The Great Escape ( Buddy Buie /Robert Nix /Barry Bailey )
I’m Not Going to Let It Bother Me Tonight ( Buddy Buie / Robert Nix/Dean Daughtry )
Here he is singing his hit “I Go Crazy”…
Sources:
- http://www.myspace.com/pauldavis2006
- http://www.answers.com/topic/paul-davis-programmer?cat=entertainment
- http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/pauldavis/discography.htm
- http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Paul%20Davis:1927003426
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hifexqe5ld6e~T4