“That was the first real hit I had,” he said. 50 on Hot Country Songs.Īs Davis told Billboard’s Chuck Dauphin in 2015, “Memories” helped set him on his path.

The song has been recorded by more than 170 artists, including Parton, whose version reached No. He began to get cuts for a number of artists, including “Watching Scotty Grow” for Bobby Goldsboro and “Something’s Burning'” for Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, as well as a spate of Presley records, including “A Little Less Conversation,” “Memories,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “In The Ghetto,” which Presley took to No. After relocating to Los Angeles for Liberty, he became a staff writer for Nancy Sinatra‘s publishing company.

But he didn’t abandon his artistic dreams. After his first attempts as a songwriter and an artist in the early ’60s failed, he worked as a promotion executive for Vee Jay and Liberty labels. 21, 1942 in Lubbock, Texas, Davis was a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. 1 in 1972, as well as “Stop and Smell the Roses” and “It’s Hard To Be Humble.” His success, and general affability and charisma, led to his own NBC variety series in 1974, the same year the Academy of Country Music named him entertainer of the year.īorn Morris Mac Davis on Jan. But the Grammy nominee saved some of his best work for himself, scoring hits with the Grammy-nominated “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” which he took to No. In addition to Presley, among the artists who recorded Davis’ compositions were Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, Tom Jones and Johnny Cash.

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