Gail Davies - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Gail Davies was born Patricia Gail Dickerson in Broken Bow, Oklahoma on June 5, 1948. Her father was a popular country singer in the 1940s, performing on The Louisiana Hayride. Although born in the South, Gail grew up in Washington State, where her mother re-married. Her last name was changed when she was adopted by her stepfather, Darby Davies. After graduating from high school, Gail moved to Los Angeles and married a jazz musician. She briefly sang jazz, but quit after they divorced. She was later hired as a session singer at A&M Records, working with artists such as Neil Young and Hoyt Axton. She was able to sit in on a John Lennon session, produced by Phil Spector, and was befriended by singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell. Mitchell's engineer, Henry Lewy, taught Gail how to produce records. She was invited to tour Europe with Frank Zappa's band, but turned the offer down to work with legendary Country artist Roger Miller, making her television debut as his singing partner on The Merv Griffin Show.

Encouraged by her older brother, Ron Davies, (the writer of "It Ain't Easy" for David Bowie and "Long Hard Climb" for Helen Reddy), Gail began writing songs. She moved to Nashville Tennessee in 1976 and signed with EMI Publishing as a staff songwriter. One of her first successful compositions, "Bucket to the South", was a hit for Ava Barber. The song was also recorded by Lynn Anderson and Mitzi Gaynor. However, Davies was determined to prove she was a singer herself. She signed with Lifesong/CBS Records in 1978 and released a self-titled album that scored three Top 20 singles. One of her own compositions, an introspective song entitled "Someone Is Looking For Someone Like You", was the album's highest charting single, reaching No. 7 in Cashbox and No. 11 on the Billboard charts. It has since been recorded in several languages by such internationally known artists as Nana Moskouri, Susan McCann, George Hamilton IV and bluegrass legends, The Country Gentlemen.