Skeeter Davis

Skeeter Davis (born Mary Frances Penick; December 30, 1931Template:Spaced en dashSeptember 19, 2004) was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's "The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually recording for RCA Victor. In the late 1950s, she became a solo star.

One of the first women to achieve major stardom in the country music field as a solo vocalist, she was an acknowledged influence on Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton and was hailed as an "extraordinary country/pop singer" by The New York Times music critic Robert Palmer.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref>

Early life

Davis was born Mary Frances Penick on December 30, 1931,Template:Sfn the first of seven children born to farmer William Lee and Sarah Rachel Penick (née Roberts), in Glencoe, Kentucky.Template:Efn Because her grandfather thought she had a lot of energy for a young child, he nicknamed Mary Frances "Skeeter" (slang for mosquito), a name she carried for the rest of her life.Template:Sfn

File:Skeeter Davis in 1941.png

Davis in a school photo, at the age of ten

When Davis was a toddler, her great-uncle was convicted of murdering her maternal grandfather (his brother) in Indiana.Template:Sfn After this incident, Davis recalled that her mother became a "bitterly depressed woman".Template:Sfn Throughout her childhood, Davis's mother made multiple suicide attempts, several of which Davis herself prevented from being carried out: "I once slapped a bottle of Clorox she was drinking out of her mouth and sat on her hands to keep her from reaching for a butcher knife," she recalled.Template:Sfn On one occasion, her mother attempted to leap from the family's apartment window with Davis and her infant brother in her arms.Template:Sfn Her relationship with her mother remained strained throughout much of her life, and by Davis's account, she "couldn't seem to win my mother's respect and affection, [so] I turned my attention toward my daddy."Template:Sfn

In the mid-1930s, the Penick family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they remained for several years before returning to Dry Ridge.Template:Sfn They later moved to Erlanger, Kentucky, in 1947. Davis was raised a Protestant, attending Disciples of Christ churches.Template:Sfn As an adolescent, Davis was inspired by the music of Betty Hutton and also developed interest in musicals, memorizing songs from films such as Stage Door Canteen (1943) and I'll Be Seeing You (1944).Template:Sfn She would sometimes stage routines in her backyard, dancing, singing, and telling ghost stories to neighborhood children.Template:Sfn When Davis was in seventh grade, her father relocated to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for work.Template:Sfn She and her siblings remained in the care of their mother who, during this time, became an alcoholic.Template:Sfn In the summer of 1948, Davis and her family relocated to Covington, Kentucky, where her father was working as an electrician and moved into a house owned by the Villa Madonna Academy, run by Benedictine nuns.Template:Sfn Davis became fascinated by the sisters, and for a time considered becoming a nun.Template:Sfn

While attending Dixie Heights High School in Erlanger, Skeeter met Betty Jack Davis, and the two became close friends, bonding over their love of music.Template:Sfn They began singing songs and playing guitar together during breaks at school, which drew attention from their classmates,Template:Sfn and they performed in several school talent shows.Template:Sfn On a trip to the Grand Ole Opry, the two convinced a stage manager to allow them backstage, where they met Hank Williams and Chet Atkins.Template:Sfn

Career

1948–1956: The Davis Sisters; rise to fame

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} During her junior year of high school, Skeeter and Betty Jack Davis won a local yodeling contest, the prize for which was a time slot singing on a local daytime television show.Template:Sfn The two were billed as the Davis Sisters, with Skeeter adopting Betty Jack's last name, despite their being unrelated.Template:Sfn Their appearance on the local program led to them receiving singing opportunities on the Detroit radio station WJR's program Barnyard Frolics.Template:Sfn After graduating from high school in 1949, Davis relocated to Detroit with Betty Jack, where they completed demonstration recordings for Fortune Records; among these was the song "Jealous Love", which was released as a single in 1953.Template:Sfn

RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes heard their demos and was impressed by their harmonies. In the spring of 1953, Skeeter and Betty Jack met with Sholes at RCA's headquarters in New York City, and were offered a recording contract.Template:Sfn After signing the contract, they left New York to begin recording material in Nashville, Tennessee.Template:Sfn On May 23, 1953, they recorded "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know", a song that had previously been recorded by Sonny James.Template:Sfn The Davis Sisters toured regionally to support the single on live broadcast radio programs, though Davis recalled that both "were so insecure and uninformed about the [music] business."Template:Sfn The single was a significant success, spending eight weeks at number one on the country charts in 1953,Template:Sfn as well as making the top 20 on the pop charts. The record ranks number 65 on the Top 100 Country Singles of All Time, according to Billboard historian Joel Whitburn.

On August 1, 1953, the Davis Sisters performed on the WWVA evening show in Wheeling, West Virginia.Template:Sfn After midnight, the two left Wheeling en route back to Covington. Around 7:00 am on August 2, near Cincinnati, a passing motorist fell asleep at the wheel, crashing head-on with the car in which Skeeter and Betty Jack Davis were riding.Template:Sfn Betty Jack was killed in the collision, while Skeeter sustained serious head injuries.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The driver of the car also survived.Template:Sfn Newspaper bulletins at the time erroneously reported that both the Davis Sisters had been pronounced dead at Our Lady of Sorrow Hospital in Cincinnati.Template:Sfn

Following the accident, Davis moved in with Betty Jack's mother, Ollie, while recovering from her injuries. She recounted in her autobiography that Ollie "took advantage of this tragic situation to suit her own ends”, alleging that she had kept Skeeter sedated with drugs from a local dentist and sequestered her in the house, where she repeatedly played the girls' records.Template:Sfn Once Skeeter recovered, Ollie could "hardly wait for her chance to re-create the Davis Sisters", suggesting that Betty Jack's younger sister, Georgia, take her place in the singing duo.Template:Sfn Davis reluctantly agreed, and six months after the accident she resumed singing in the duo with Georgia Davis.Template:Sfn In her autobiography, she wrote that she felt she had been brainwashed by Ollie and coerced into resuming the musical duo.Template:Sfn

Between 1954 and 1956, Skeeter and Georgia released a total of nine singles for RCA as the Davis Sisters, which they recorded in New York City and Chicago, and toured the United States as a part of the RCA Caravan of the Stars alongside Minnie Pearl, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Chet Atkins, among others.Template:Sfn The singles recorded with Georgia were notably less successful than the duo's former material, with low chart positions, though Davis felt that "the material was good."Template:Sfn The two held a tribute performance for Betty Jack at the Grand Ole Opry in 1954.Template:Sfn In 1955, the Davis Sisters were booked for a regional tour alongside Hank Snow, The Carter Sisters (minus June), and Elvis Presley.Template:Sfn Davis recounted her friendship with Presley in her autobiography.Template:Sfn The Davis Sisters formally disbanded in 1956, shortly after Davis's first marriage to Kenneth DePew.Template:Sfn

1957–1962: Early solo career

File:Skeeter Davis 1960s portrait.jpg

Davis in a publicity photo Template:Circa 1960

In the late 1950s during her marriage to DePew, Davis suffered from depression and "harbored a death wish" over the grief of Betty Jack's death as well as her "contrived" marriage.Template:Sfn She resumed performing as a solo act, touring with Ernest Tubb, and co-wrote and recorded the song "Set Him Free" for RCA, produced by Chet Atkins.Template:Sfn The song earned Davis a Grammy Award nomination for best country recording.Template:Sfn Sometime during this period, Template:Circa 1958, Davis and DePew were divorced, and she relocated to Nashville.Template:Sfn The same year, Davis recorded "Lost to a Geisha Girl", an answer song to Hank Locklin's hit "Geisha Girl", which reached the country number 15 and became her first solo hit.Template:Sfn Atkins worked with Davis as a guitarist on all of these sessions. At Davis's suggestion, Atkins frequently multiple-tracked Davis's voice for harmony vocals to resemble the sound of the Davis Sisters.Template:Sfn This echo can be found on several of her early solo hits, such as "Am I That Easy to Forget".Template:Sfn

She subsequently cowrote and recorded another top-20 hit called ‘Homebreaker’ , which peaked at number 15 on the Hot Country Songs chart in November 1959.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The same year, Davis joined the Grand Ole Opry.Template:Sfn During this time, she toured with June Carter, and the two became good friends.Template:Sfn

From 1960 to 1962, Davis had top-10 hits with the songs "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too", "My Last Date (With You)", "Where I Ought to Be", and "Optimistic".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too" marked Davis's first entrance as a solo artist onto the Billboard pop charts in 1960Template:Sfn and resulted in her being invited to perform on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.Template:Sfn The song went all the way to the top 40, unheard of for a female country singer at the time. In 1961, she scored a second pop hit with a lyric version (written by Skeeter) of Floyd Cramer's instrumental country pop smash "Last Date" called "My Last Date (With You)" which did even better, making the top 30 on the pop charts. Both of these songs did exceptionally well on the country charts, peaking at number two and number five, respectively.

1963–1976: Crossover and critical accolades

In 1963, Davis achieved her biggest success with country pop crossover hit "The End of the World".<ref name=pc10>Template:Gilliland</ref> The song just missed topping the country and pop charts that year; however, it did top the adult contemporary charts. The record was also a surprise top-five hit on the rhythm and blues charts, making Davis one of the few white female singers to have a top-10 hit in that market. The single sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.Template:Sfn "The End of the World" soon became Davis's signature song. Davis achieved one other country-pop hit with the Gerry Goffin and Carole King-penned "I Can't Stay Mad at You", which peaked at number seven on the pop charts and number two on the Easy Listening chart in 1963.Template:Sfn In 1964, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her recording of "He Says the Same Things to Me".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Davis's success continued with "I'm Saving My Love" and 1964's "Gonna Get Along Without You Now", an updated cover of a 1956 hit by Patience and Prudence. Both made the top 10 on the country charts and cracked the Billboard Top 50 pop charts, though the success of "Gonna Get" was likely hampered by another remake of the song by vocalist Tracey Dey simultaneously climbing the charts to peak slightly lower than Davis's version. Later pop efforts, such as "Let Me Get Close to You" in July 1964, missed making the Billboard Hot 100,Template:Sfn reflecting the changing nature of pop styles due to the ongoing British invasion. In 1965, she recorded a duet with Bobby Bare called "A Dear John Letter", which just missed the country top 10.Template:Sfn The following year, she earned her third Grammy nomination for "Sun Glasses", which peaked at number 30 on the Hot Country Songs chart.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 1967, Davis was back in the top 10 with "What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied)". Davis only achieved two other major country hits the rest of the decade, "Fuel to the Flame" (written by Dolly Parton, to whom Davis paid tribute with an album called Skeeter Sings Dolly in 1972), and "There's a Fool Born Every Minute". She received her fourth Grammy nomination for 1967's "What Does It Take".<ref name=grammy>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the late 1960s, she recorded several full-length albums, including two tribute works: Skeeter Davis Sings Buddy Holly (1967) and I Love Flatt and Scruggs (1968).Template:Sfn Davis's recording of the anti-war song "One Tin Soldier", released in 1972, earned her an appearance on The Midnight Special.Template:Sfn The single was a major success in Canada, peaking as a top-ten hit on RPM country and adult contemporary charts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1970, Davis had another top-10 hit with "I'm a Lover (Not a Fighter)" and another duet with Bobby Bare with "Your Husband, My Wife". The following year, she had a hit with the autobiographical "Bus Fare To Kentucky". Subsequently, however, her chart success began to fade. Singles such as "It's Hard to Be a Woman" and "Love Takes a Lot of My Time" failed to crack the country top 40. Her last major hit was 1973's "I Can't Believe That It's All Over", which peaked at number 12 in country and number 101 on the pop chart. In the 1970s, she began regularly touring foreign countries such as Barbados, Singapore, and Sweden, where she retained a following.Template:Sfn

Davis had the first and only controversy of her career when, during a 1973 Grand Ole Opry performance, she dedicated a gospel song to a group of young church workers whom she noted in her introduction had been arrested for evangelizing at a local mall. The Opry suspended her from membership after receiving complaints from some local policemen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was reinstated at the Opry more than a year later.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After losing several bookings during that period, Davis became active singing with a number of religious ministries and spent an extensive period evangelizing in Africa.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1977–2004: Later life and career

Davis returned to the recording studio in 1976 with a brief stint on Mercury Records, which produced two single releases, including her last song to make the national charts, 1976's "I Love Us". In 1978, she recorded the first of several albums for minor record labels which she did on occasion into the 1990s.

She recorded the album She Sings, They Play with her third husband, bassist Joey Spampinato and his band, NRBQ.<ref name=wadey/> Her autobiography, Bus Fare to Kentucky (named after her 1971 song), was published in 1993. In 1998, she wrote a children's book, The Christmas Note, with Cathie Pelletier.

Personal life

Relationships and marriages

In 1956, Davis met Kenneth DePew, a railroad worker and acquaintance of Georgia.Template:Sfn The two began dating and married shortly after, though Davis would later state that he had married her for her income: "He saw the nice new furniture my money had bought the Davises; he saw the Oldsmobile and knew I had money in the bank. I could be a short cut to easy street."Template:Sfn According to Davis, their marriage was not consummated until eight days into their honeymoon.Template:Sfn The couple divorced in late 1959.Template:Sfn

In 1960, she married WSM disc jockey Ralph Emery in Franklin, Kentucky.Template:Sfn Their marriage was tumultuous, with Davis recalling that Emery was jealous and controlling of her, refusing to let her work more than a few days per month, obsessively calling her while she was on tour and recurrently accusing her of infidelity: "Ralph accused me of being with everybody from guitar players to agents to producers to my hairdresser and believe it or not, to my brother and sister. Male or female, it made no difference."Template:Sfn The couple resided in Ridgetop, Tennessee, for a time, before Emery had a home built for them in the Brentwood area.Template:Sfn In 1964, after four years of marriage, Davis divorced Emery after finding he had been unfaithful to her and conceived a child with another woman.Template:Sfn

Davis later married NRBQ bassist Joey Spampinato in 1987. The couple divorced in 1996.<ref name=wadey>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Vegetarianism

Davis became a vegetarian in 1974, and remained so for the rest of her life.<ref name=wiley>Template:Cite magazine</ref> She chose to abstain from eating meat after performing at a benefit concert in Kenya, where the concert organizers had killed and roasted a goat for the artists' banquet. "I really connected with that goat," she recounted, "and I couldn't bear to eat it."<ref name=wiley/> She declined to participate or allow her music to be used in several lucrative advertising campaigns for meat and meat-related products.<ref name=wiley/> Davis partly attributed her vegetarianism to her Christianity, as she felt killing animals for consumption was incongruent with her religious beliefs.<ref name=wiley/>

Illness and death

In August 1988, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer.<ref name=lat>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Closed access</ref> She underwent a mastectomy of her right breast to treat the cancerTemplate:Sfn and was in remission for several years before having a recurrence in 1996.<ref name=lat/>

In 2001, Davis became incapacitated by her breast cancer, which had metastasized. The following year, she made her final performance at the Grand Ole Opry, performing "The End of the World". She died of breast cancer in a Nashville, Tennessee, hospice on September 19, 2004, aged 72.Template:Sfn She is interred at Williams Memorial Gardens in Franklin, Tennessee.Template:Sfn

Legacy

Davis's song "The End of the World" has been named as a major influence on several artists: Among them are Lou Reed,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 21st-century singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, both of whom named it among their favorite recordings of all time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bob Dylan also recorded a version of "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" featuring the Davis Sisters' arrangements on his 1970 album Self Portrait.Template:Sfn "The End of the World" was also used in the popular video game Fallout 4.

Nina Gordon, formerly of Veruca Salt, also covered the song on her 2000 album Tonight and the Rest of My Life.

Davis penned nearly 70 songs over the course of her career, and earned two BMI awards: for "Set Him Free" and "My Last Date With You", the latter also recorded by Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Kay Starr, Joni James, and several others, in addition to Davis' original hit version. Deborah Harry recorded a remake of Davis' version in 1993 featuring Michael Stipe, a long-time Davis fan. (Conway Twitty wrote new lyrics for the instrumental in 1972 as "Lost Her Love (On Our Last Date)", which reached number one on the country chart, as did Emmylou Harris' remake of Twitty's version in 1983 retitled "Lost His Love (On Our Last Date)".)

Discography

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Sources

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External links

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