Comments on: Paul Davis: A Sweet Life

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:10:16 +0000

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.

By: Randolph

Randolph — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:10:28 +0000

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.

By: Maffie

Maffie — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:20:51 +0000

Hey I have Paul Davis on one of my playlists, it’s great to know that Allmusic likes him too!

By: Walt Bennett

Walt Bennett — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:54:17 +0000

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’.

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:53:52 +0000

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?

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:31:33 +0000

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.

By: Marc

Marc — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:18:27 +0000

“steve”… what’s “with” the “quotation” marks “around” every “other” word “?”

By: Jim Thurman

Jim Thurman — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:55:25 +0000

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”).

By: Sweet Life

Sweet Life — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:00:37 +0000

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TQHnMRvRozw

Here is a great video tribute to him in Heaven