Success As A Singer
Davis soon decided to pursue a career of his own in country music; he was signed to Columbia Records in 1970. His big success in his own right, after several years of enriching the repertoires of other artists, came two years after he was signed to Columbia, when he topped the Country and Pop charts with the success song "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me." It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in September 1972.
Some of Davis's lyrics invoked overtly sexual relationships. "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" (in which he pleads with a woman not to become too enamored of him, because he does not want to commit to a full-time relationship with her) was an example, as were other successful songs, such as "Naughty Girl" and "Baby Spread Your Love on Me." He was far from being alone in this respect; many country songs that were popular during the 1970s and 1980s also featured sexual themes.
During 1974, Davis was awarded the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award. Some of Davis's other successes included "Stop and Smell the Roses" (a number one Adult Contemporary success in 1974) (Popular No. 9), "One Hell of a Woman" (Pop No. 11), and "Burnin' Thing" (Popular No. 53). At the end of the 1970s, he moved to Casablanca Records, which, though it was now vending country music, was best known at the time primarily for its successes with disco diva Donna Summer and rockers 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/or good looks could go to one's head, which became his first country music Top 10. He also had another Top 10 song with "Let's Keep It That Way" later in the year. He achieved other successful songs, such as "Texas In My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked on Music," which became his biggest country music success in 1981, going to No. 2. In 1985, he recorded his (to date) last Top Ten country music success with the song "I Never Made Love (Till I Made Love With You)".
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.
Read more about this topic: Mac Davis
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