A few days ago, I received the very sad news that singer / songwriter Mac Davis was critically ill due to complications after some recent heart surgery.
Due to prior publishing commitments, I figured that I wasn't even going to be able to ask for prayers until this week's Thursday This And That page ... and hoped that he could hold out that long ...
He didn't ... and I'm shuffling the schedule here today to write this tribute and obituary instead.
Davis was an incredibly charismatic performer ... a singer, a songwriter, and a television star who even crossed over to the movie screen for a brief period of time. (His good looks made him a big screen natural and his down-home sense of humor just made him a likeable guy.)
Mac had kept a rather low profile for the past couple of decades ... and I remember writing about how pleasantly surprised I was when I saw him perform on that Elvis Presley tribute special last year. It was like reconnecting with an old friend ... he looked and sounded great and I kept hoping that maybe he'd start touring again, as I would have loved to have seen him. (A perfect act for either The Arcada Theatre or The City Winery!)
Davis got his first big break when Elvis recorded a few of his songs back in 1968/69 ... "A Little Less Conversation" (#53, 1968 ... and then an International #1 Hit when it was issued in remix form in 2002), "Memories" (#21, 1969 ... but also featured in The King's NBC comeback television special the year before), "In The Ghetto" (#1, 1969) and "Don't Cry Daddy" (#5, 1970).
He would enjoy his own #1 Record in 1972 when "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me" topped the charts in all three major trade publications.
Although he would only have one more Top Ten Pop Hit ("Stop And Smell The Roses," #5, 1974), Davis remained a presence on the country charts (he was named Country Entertainer of the Year in 1974), in our living rooms with his own television series (where he'd he make up songs on the spot based on topic suggestions shouted out by the live audience), and in movie theaters in films like "North Dallas Forty" with Nick Nolte.) Songs he had written also became hits for other artists, like Gallery ("I Believe In Music," #12, 1972) and Bobby Goldsboro ("Watching Scotty Grow," #6, 1971.)
Born in Lubbock, Texas (also home to one of his idols, Buddy Holly), he never forgot his roots ... one of my favorite Mac Davis tunes is the semi-autobiographical "Texas In My Rear View Mirror." Another is "Hooked On Music" (#51, 1980), an EXCELLENT rockabilly tune from 1981 that only managed to bubble-under on the pop charts ... and deserved a FAR better fate than this.
For perhaps the best example of Mac Davis' sense of humor ... and talent as a songwriter ... I've chosen "It's Hard To Be Humble" (#34, 1980) for today's feature.
Here's "Hooked On Music," too ... how did radio miss this one? (Country Radio sure didn't ... it went all the way to #2 on Billboard's Country Singles Chart!)
Just a few hours before getting the news that Mac Davis had passed away, we learned of Helen Reddy's death.
Like Mac Davis, Helen also hosted her own television show in the '70's and appeared in a few films ("Pete's Dragon," "Airport, 1975" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.") Say What?!?!
Already a star in Australia (where she began her singing career at the age of FOUR!), Reddy moved to the US in 1966. Her first chart hit here was a cover of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from "Jesus Christ, Superstar," which reached #12 in 1971 ... but it was her 1972 #1 Record "I Am Woman" that catapulted her to international stardom.
Immediately declared a Women's Rights anthem, Reddy became the poster girl for Women's Liberation ... and instant superstar. (When "I Am Woman" won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance, Female, Reddy thanked God in her acceptance speech ... "Because SHE makes everything possible.")
I personally never cared for the song, but clearly I was in the minority. It had nothing to do with the cause it represented ... I mean, from a guy's perspective, what's not to support about bra-burning??? (Actually, I guess the answer to THAT question is pretty easy, isn't it???)
But I DID like many of her follow up hits ...
Reddy would reach The Top 40 a dozen more times between 1973 and 1977. Those hits would include THREE more #1 Records: "Delta Dawn" (1973), "Leave Me Alone" (1973) and my favorite, "Angie Baby" (1974.)
(Songwriter Alan O'Day, who penned "Angie Baby," dissected the song exclusively for our FH Readers several years ago ... https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/12/angie-baby-story-behind-song.html)
"Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady," kept the feminist mood intact when it reached #5 in 1976 (and I actually really like this one!) Her remake of the 1964 Cilla Black hit "You're My World" would be her last Top 20 Hit in 1977.
Ironically, we just ran a promo for a new movie that tells her life story a couple of weeks ago in FH. (The promo shown on ABC News here locally showed Reddy performing at The Arcada Theatre in 2013.) It is not an exaggeration to say that at the time, her role as a Women's Rights spokesperson made her iconic.
She had been in ill health for awhile, suffering from dementia ... her son, interviewed for this same news piece, confided that she was currently in assisted living and not really able to care for herself anymore.
As an artist, however ... with FIFTEEN Top 40 Hits in all ... she was a MAJOR force to contend with on the 1970 Pop Charts.
