Skeeter Davis
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| Skeeter Davis | ||
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 A Skeeter Davis compilation album
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Mary Frances Penick | |
| Born | December 30, 1931 | |
| Origin | Dry Ridge, Kentucky | |
| Died | September 19, 2004 | |
| Genre(s) | Country music/Pop music | |
| Years active | 1952-1985 | |
| Label(s) | RCA Records | |
| Associated acts |
Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Bobby Bare | |
| Website | Skeeter Davis Unofficial Site | |
Mary Frances "Skeeter" Davis (December 30, 1931 – September 19, 2004) was a country music singer and a member of the Grand Ole Opry radio show for more than 40 years. She was best known for her hit song "The End of the World" (1963), one of the most popular American records of the 1960's. One of the first women to achieve major stardom in the country music field as a solo vocalist, she was an acknowledged influence on Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton.
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[edit] Early life
Davis was born Mary Frances Penick on a farm in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. She took the surname Davis when she became half of the "Davis Sisters" duet in the 1950s and the first name Skeeter because her grandfather said she was so active, she buzzed around like a mosquito.
Davis attended Dixie Heights High School near Covington, Kentucky, where she met Betty Jack Davis and the two formed The Davis Sisters.
[edit] Rise to Fame & Car Accident
They signed a recording contract with RCA Victor and had a number one hit with the song I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know. Shortly thereafter, Betty Davis was killed in a car wreck. Skeeter Davis was critically injured in the same accident. She recuperated and launched a solo career. By 1957, Davis was one of the top rated singers in country music. She was a friend and associate of Chet Atkins.
[edit] A Successful Country Artist
She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1959, the same year she was nominated for a Grammy award for the song "Set Him Free". During the 1960s, Skeeter was one of RCA's most successful country artists. Along with Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis became one of the first country singers to have songs crossover to the pop charts and become hits. She charted 41 country hits, 13 of which crossed over to the pop charts. The best-known of these was "The End Of The World", which peaked at number two in both the U.S. country and pop charts in 1963. She scored a second pop top ten that year with Carole King's "I Can't Stay Mad at You". Davis received five Grammy nominations including four for Best Country Female Vocal in 1964 ("He Says the Same Things to Me"), 1965 ("Sunglasses"), 1967 ("What Does it Take"), and 1972 ("One Tin Solider").
Davis was also an accomplished songwriter, penning almost 70 songs and earning two BMI awards for "Set Him Free" and "My Last Date With You", the latter of which was also recorded by Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Kay Starr, Joni James, and several others in addition to Davis' original hit version.
In 1973, the Opry suspended Davis for dedicating a song to recently arrested Christians witnessing at a public mall during an Opry performance, deeming her remarks "political", but was reinstated in 1975 and continued to perform until 2001, when she was incapacitated by the breast cancer that would claim her life. She remained a Grand Ole Opry member until the end of her life.
In the 1970s, she began regularly touring foreign countries such as Barbados, Singapore, and Sweden where she was among the most popular entertainers of any field.
[edit] Life After Fame & Comeback
Davis was married three times, the first being to Kenneth Depew. She married Ralph Emery in 1960 and divorced in 1964. She married rock musican Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, with whom she collaborated on an acclaimed 1985 album She Sings, They Play in 1987. Davis and Spampinato were divorced in 1996.
Skeeter lived in Brentwood, Tennessee, from the early 1960s until the time of her death in 2004. Her autobiography, Bus Fare to Kentucky (named after a 1971 Davis hit), was published in 1993. In 1998 she authored a children's book The Christmas Note (with Cathie Pelletier) based on her childhood that received praise from a number of authors including Lee Smith (author), Rebecca Wells, and Terry Kay.
Davis was a devout Christian. Davis battled breast cancer starting in 1988, and she died of it in a Nashville, Tennessee, hospice, aged 72.
[edit] Trivia
- Skeeter Davis is the only woman in the history of the Billboard charts to hit the top ten singles list on all four singles charts, the Hot 100 (pop/rock), country, easy listening, and soul/rhythm and blues with her 1963 smash "The End of the World". Linda Ronstadt, The Pointer Sisters, and Barbra Streisand have also hit four different charts but Streisand has not had a top ten country or soul record, the Pointers did not hit the country top ten, and Ronstadt did not make the top ten soul chart.
- "The End of the World" is the only single to make the top ten on all four Billboard singles charts.
- Skeeter Davis was the only woman nominated for Best Country & Western Recording (for "Set Him Free" in 1959) by the Grammy Awards in the five year period of 1959-1963 in which only one award was given in the country field.
- Skeeter Davis was married to Nashville jounrnalist and television host Ralph Emery for a number of years.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Selected Hit Singles
| Year | Single | U.S. Country | U.S. Hot 100 | Album | |
| 1953 | "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" (with The Davis Sisters) | #1 | 8 | I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know | |
| 1959 | "Set Him Free" | 5 | - | I'll Sing You a Song | |
| 1959 | "Lost to a Geisha Girl" | 15 | - | Blueberry Hill | |
| 1960 | "Am I That Easy to Forget?" | 11 | - | I'll Sing You a Song | |
| 1960 | "(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too" | 2 | 39 | Here's The Answer | |
| 1960 | "My Last Date (With You)" | 5 | 26 | Here's The Answer | |
| 1961 | "Optimistic" | 10 | - | Blueberry Hill | |
| 1962 | "Where I Ought To Be" | 9 | - | Blueberry Hill | |
| 1962 | "The End of the World" | 2 | 2 | The End of the World | |
| 1962 | "I'm Saving My Love" | 9 | 41 | Cloudy, With Occasional Tears | |
| 1963 | "I Can't Stay Mad At You" | 14 | 7 | Let Me Get Close to You | |
| 1964 | "Gonna Get Along With You Now" | 8 | 48 | Let Me Get Close to You | |
| 1964 | "He Says the Same Things to Me" | 17 | 47 | Let Me Get Close to You | |
| 1965 | "A Dear John Letter" | 11 | - | Tunes for Two | |
| 1967 | "Fuel To The Flame" | 11 | - | What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied) | |
| 1967 | "What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied)" | 5 | - | What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied) | |
| 1968 | "There's a Fool Born Every Minute" | 16 | - | Skeeter Skeeter Skeeter | |
| 1970 | "I'm a Lover (Not a Fighter)" | 9? | - | A Place in the Country | |
| 1971 | "Bus Fare To Kentucky" | 21 | - | Skeeter Skeeter Skeeter" | |
| 1973 | "I Can't Believe That It's All Over" | 12 | - | I Can't Believe That It's All Over |
[edit] Selected Albums
| Year | Album | |
| 1960 | I'll Sing You a Song, and Harmonize Too | |
| 1962 | Sing Duets (with Porter Wagoner) | |
| 1963 | The End of the World | |
| 1963 | Cloudy, With Occasional Tears | |
| 1964 | Let Me Get Close to You | |
| 1965 | Written By the Stars | |
| 1965 | Tunes for Two (with Bobby Bare) | |
| 1966 | My Heart's In the Country | |
| 1967 | Skeeter Davis Sings Buddy Holly | |
| 1967 | Hand In Hand With Jesus | |
| 1968 | I Love Flatt and Scruggs | |
| 1969 | The Closest Thing to Love | |
| 1969 | Mary Frances | |
| 1970 | A Place in the Country | |
| 1971 | Love Takes a Lot of Time | |
| 1971 | Skeeter Skeeter Skeeter | |
| 1972 | Bring It On Home | |
| 1972 | Skeeter Sings Dolly | |
| 1972 | The Hillbilly Singer | |
| 1973 | I Can't Believe That It's All Over | |
| 1982 | Live Wire | |
| 1985 | She Sings, They Play (with NRBQ) | |
| 1995 | The Essential Skeeter Davis | |
| 2002 | RCA Country Legends: Skeeter Davis | |
| 2004 | The Pop Hits Collection |
[edit] References
- The Associated Press. "Skeeter Davis, Country Singer, 72". The New York Times. September 22, 2004. A28.
- William A. Weathers. "Skeeter Davis a star on the Grand Ole Opry: Dry Ridge native had hit with 'End of the World'". The Cincinnati Enquirer. September 20, 2004. B4.
[edit] External links
- Skeeter Davis entry at the All Music Guide
- "Skeeter Davis".Skeeter Davis Unofficial Site. Retrieved Sep. 20, 2004.
- Annotated Discography
Categories: American country singers | American children's writers | American female singers | American pop singers | American vegetarians | American Christians | Country music songwriters | Grand Ole Opry members | People from Kentucky | People known by pseudonyms | Breast cancer deaths | Breast cancer patients | 1931 births | 2004 deaths | Kentucky musicians
