Ep. 18A - MAC DAVIS ("In the Ghetto") - 1 of 2

Part 1 of 2: Hailing from Lubbock, Texas, Mac Davis began his music career working for Vee Jay Records and Liberty Records in Atlanta. Relocating to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, he became a staff songwriter for Nancy Sinatra’s music publishing company. His early songwriting success came when Elvis Presley recorded several of his songs, including “A Little Less Conversation,” “Memories,” “Clean Up Your Own Backyard,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “In the Ghetto.” Soon his songs were being recorded by O.C. Smith, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Glen Campbell, Ray Price, and Bobby Goldsboro, who enjoyed a major hit with Mac’s “Watching Scotty Grow” in 1971. Thanks to his success as a songwriter, Davis signed an artist deal with Columbia Records, and later Casablanca Records, scoring thirty-three charting singles between 1970 and 1986. Most of those hits were written by Davis himself, including “I Believe in Music,” “One Hell of a Woman,” “Stop and Smell the Roses,” “It’s Hard to be Humble,” “Texas in My Rearview,” “Hooked on Music,” “You’re My Bestest Friend,” and the Grammy-nominated #1 pop hit, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me.” He was named both the the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year in 1974, hosted his own NBC variety show from 1974 through 1976, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000, and joined the national Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. He’s a three-time Grammy nominee with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he continues to write, most recently collaborating with - and having his songs recorded by - Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Bruno Mars, and Avicii.