KWXY Presents ● A Classic Interview with Mac Davis

Mac Davis - Publicity Photo / IVOX MEDIA collection

Mac Davis was a singer, songwriter, actor and television host.  His career started as a songwriter including hits for Elvis Presley with a successful solo career in music, television and film beginning in the 1970s. 

A native of Lubbock, Texas, he was born Morris Mac Davis on January 21, 1942 to parents T.J. and Irene.  Small in stature, he nevertheless got into frequent fights, even joining Golden Gloves as a means of defense.  Davis graduated high school at age 16 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia soon after.

Davis began his career as a songwriter for OEK Records and later worked as a regional manager for Vee Jay Records and Liberty Records.  His career took off while working at Boots Enterprises, Inc., owned by Nancy Sinatra and during which time he played on several recordings.  In 1970, Davis signed with Columbia Records, focusing on becoming a country singer and retaining the rights to his songs. 

Many artists continued to record his songs.  Elvis Presley recorded several songs including “In The Ghetto” and a posthumous hit originally recorded in 1968 and remixed in 2002, “A Little Less Conversation.”

Throughout the 1970s, Davis continued to record hits such as “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me” and “I Believe In Music,” with the latter covered by several artists as well as Davis himself.  He hosted The Mac Davis Show on NBC from 1974 to 1976 and had movie roles in North Dallas Forty and The Sting II. 

Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me

Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me is the third album by Mac Davis, and is considered to be his breakthrough album released in 1972 on Columbia Records.

Mac Davis remained active as an actor and voiceover artist until his death due to complications from heart surgery on September 29, 2020 at age 78 in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was honored in his hometown of Lubbock by having a street named after him, Mac Davis Lane. 

KWXY Presents a Classic Interview with Mac Davis today at 1pm on The Wink Martindale Show on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com