Paul Davis: A Sweet Life
April 24th, 2008 | 4:06 pm est |
Hard as it may be to believe, but Paul Davis — a soft-rock singer/songwriter who passed way on April 22 at the age of 60 — ranks high among the most successful singles artists on the Billboard charts, an achievement he rarely receives any credit for. Then again, Davis was so easy-going he tended to glide under the radar — his soft rock is so soft it didn’t command attention. Instead, it soothed, without ever seeming saccharine, even as synthesizers started to creep into his warm grooves in the early ’80s.
Davis had two big hits in 1982 with the gorgeous “Cool Night” and the irrepressibly goofy “‘65 Love Affair” (whose doo-wop pastiche didn’t quite match the year Paul celebrated in the title, but when it comes to nostalgia, who really nitpicks?). The ’80s surely weren’t his decade; the ’70s were, and his career had the trajectory of so many singer/songwriters from that decade. He began in the country-rock circuit, where he was discovered by the legendary Bert Berns, who signed him to Bang as a solo act. He scored his first big hit in 1974 with “Ride ‘Em Cowboy.” Despite the title, the song didn’t feel country. It was gentle and hazy, a soft-rock song through and through, and it helped set the stage for his defining hit, “I Go Crazy,” a sweet lovelorn ballad that entered the charts in August of 1977 and stayed there for a record-shattering 40 weeks (a feat unheard of at the time). With its analog synthesizers, lush harmonies and shimmering surface, “I Go Crazy” effortlessly evokes the late ’70s, which is a large part of its charm, but it’s not an artifact of its time, it’s an emblem of its era, one of the best arguments for all the glories of soft rock. It not only had the sound and feel, but it had a gently insinuating melody delivered unhurriedly by Davis, who managed to croon without getting corny. He cut a handful of singles as strong as “I Go Crazy”: there’s the aforementioned “Cool Night,” but also 1978’s “Sweet Life” and 1980’s “Do Right,” three songs that were equally as soft and soothing as his career-making hit, songs that rank among the best of his genre.
Soft rock started to fade in the early ’80s, one of the many casualties of the shifting fashions of the MTV era. After all, bearded singers did not make stylish videos — if they made them at all, that is — and soft rock turned icy and cold due to the increase of synthesizers. As the sounds shifted, Davis faded into the background, turning first to contemporary country-pop (where such soft, hazy surfaces survived until the late ’80s), but after 1988, he no longer actively recorded, easing into a retirement in his native Mississippi. From all reports he had a low-key retirement that fit his music, and although he wasn’t recording, those songs lived on, as they will continue to do now that he’s gone.
“Ride ‘Em Cowboy” 
“I Go Crazy”
“Cool Night”
“Sweet Life”
“Do Right”
I really “admired” and “enjoyed” Paul Davis. He was a “gentleman” and his voice was “sweet and smooth” on all his singles. I’m truly sad to “hear” of this loss. Pop/country music/ music in “general” has lost a “good man” who new how to write sweet songs and who was “low key” and “gentlemanly”…you can have your hip/hop and shallow music of today. Paul Davis recorded and performed songs that were “heart-warming”, “sentimental”, and “deep”. He is not someone who came across as “shallow” or “narcistic”. Rest In Peace Paul and “Thank-you” for all your wonderful music.
I recall seeing him interviewed by Dick Clark on AB. Dick seemed to be impressed by the irony of this hippie-looking dude who turned out these lush melodies while living in basic seclusion.
Hey I have Paul Davis on one of my playlists, it’s great to know that Allmusic likes him too!
Not one week ago I put together a set of Paul Davis music in my bedroom, and now to find out that he’s gone too soon at 60.
Of course the art lives on. Certainly he had some of the memorable hits of my late teenage years.
Honorable mention should go to “Do Right”, which was straight-up religious without being gospel or preachy (well maybe a little), but as always had an inimitable hook that never quite went away.
Any Hall Of Fame overlooks some who weren’t quite great but will always have their fans. Count me among one of Paul Davis’.
How touching yet awesome to see a singer remembered by my favorite allmusic.com critic, Steven Thomas Erlewine. “Do Right” and “I Go Crazy” stand up as 2 of the favorite songs of my teenage years as the former got me thru a very tough transitional period in high school. I have his greatest hits on Curb Records and also keep him on my Ipod on shuffle all the time. His remake of “Love or Let Me Be Lonely” was so close to the original, yet somehow was all his own. He will be missed. Does anyone know how he died?
Excellent appreciation of an underrated talent within a somewhat underappreciated genre, “soft rock”. Whether “adult contemporary” or “soft rock”, it’s usually described as softer or mellower, and as a result, it started getting a bad reputation somewhere in the 1980s as just being “love songs, nothing but love songs” and just lighter than air and squishy. “I Go Crazy” not only had heart, but its synth-y piano hook at the end of the choruses is indelible, a memorable hook for a ballad that set a longevity record on the Hot 100 that stood until an artist in a similar vein, Jewel, broke it.
It should also be noted that when he DID turn to country-pop in the late-1980s, it fit him like a glove too, particularly on Tanya Tucker’s #1 “trio” song, with Paul and Paul Overstreet, “I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love”. He won’t be forgotten, Mr. Davis, as his songs stand up even today, even with the AC genre becoming a repository for the choirboy sounds of Josh Groban and (ick) Clay Aiken.
“steve”… what’s “with” the “quotation” marks “around” every “other” word “?”
Stephen,
Nice tribute.
The timeline in his bio is off. How could Bert Berns have spotted him and signed him in 1970 when Berns died in December 1967? I’d really like to see that corrected and amended to give credit to whoever it was that actually signed Davis to Bang Records.
And a (hopefully interesting) sidelight - Davis spent the mid-70’s as one of the last of the regional hitmakers (before radio became overly corporatized and narrowed). His 45s charted high in the South and did well enough to sometimes push them into the lower reaches of the Top 40 (”Superstar”).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TQHnMRvRozw
Here is a great video tribute to him in Heaven