Editing Mac Davis (section)

=== Success as a singer ===
[[File:Mac Davis DN-ST-87-03194.JPEG|thumb|upright|Davis performing in 1986]]
Davis soon decided to pursue a career of his own as a recording artist. After several years of writing songs for other artists, he was signed by Clive Davis for Columbia, later topping the Country and Pop charts with the song "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" in 1972. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America in September 1972 [[Recording Industry Association of America]] in September 1972.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| first=Joseph| last=Murrells| year=1978| title=The Book of Golden Discs| edition=2nd| publisher=Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| location=London| page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/310 310]| isbn=978-0214204807| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/310}}</ref>

In 1974, Davis was awarded the [[Academy of Country Music]]'s Entertainer of the Year award. He had other successes including the songs "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a number one Adult Contemporary success in 1974) (pop no.&nbsp;9), "One Hell of a Woman" (pop no.&nbsp;11), "[[Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)]]" (pop no.&nbsp;15), and "Burnin' Thing" (pop no.&nbsp;53). At the end of the 1970s, he was signed by Neil Bogart and moved to Casablanca Records, which was best known at the time for its successes with disco star Donna Summer and rock'n'roll band Kiss. His first success for the company in 1980 was the novelty song "[[It's Hard to Be Humble]]", a light-hearted look at how popularity and good looks could go to one's head. The song became his first Country music top 10 and a rare top 30 hit in the UK. (It was translated into Dutch as "''Het is moeilijk bescheiden te blijven''" and became a hit for the Dutch singer Peter Blanker in 1981). Later that year, he had another top 10 song with "Let's Keep It That Way" written by Curly Putman and Rafe Van Hoy. In November, "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" was played by [[KHJ (AM)|KHJ]] in Los Angeles as its last song before it switched from Top 40 to Country music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://formatchange.com/khj-goes-country/ |title=KHJ Goes Country |date=November 8, 1980 |publisher=Formatchange.com |access-date=August 26, 2015}}</ref> He achieved success with other songs like "Texas in My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked on Music", which became his biggest Country music success in 1981 going to number 2. In 1985, he recorded his last top 10 country music success with the song "I Never Made Love (Till I Made Love With You)".<ref name="WestTexas"/>

On January 19, 1985, Davis performed "[[God Bless the USA]]" at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, held the day before the [[second inauguration of Ronald Reagan]].<ref name="WestTexas">{{cite web |url=http://westtexasguitar.weebly.com/mac-davis.html#:~:text=On%20January%2019%2C%201985%2C%20Davis,NBC%2C%20The%20Mac%20Davis%20Show. |title=Mac Davis |publisher=West Texas Guitar |access-date=September 30, 2020}}</ref>