Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Billy Davis, Jr. (born June 26, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri)[1] is an American musician, best known as a member of the 5th Dimension. Along with his wife, Marilyn McCoo, he had hit records during 1976 and 1977 with "I Hope We Get to Love in Time", "Your Love", and "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)". Davis and McCoo were married in 1969. They became the first African American married couple to host a network television series, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show, on CBS in Summer 1977. That same year, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)" won a Grammy Award.
Davis joined the 5th Dimension, then called the Versatiles, in 1966. The group's first big hit was with 1967's "Up, Up and Away", written by Jimmy Webb. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to the 5th Dimension's first hit LP. A year later the group recorded Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic". A medley of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (from the musical Hair) reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April to May 1969 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. The group's recording of Nyro's "Wedding Bell Blues" topped the Hot 100 in November 1969. Davis sang the male lead on the group's singles, "Worst That Could Happen", "A Change Is Gonna Come/People Got To Be Free", and "I’ll Be Lovin' You Forever".
In 1975, Davis and McCoo left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo. Landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, I Hope We Get to Love in Time. The first single was the title track, which was a mid-chart hit. Their follow up, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)", was an even bigger hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977. Davis and McCoo were awarded a gold single and a gold album as well as a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They became the first African American married couple to host a network television program, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show, on CBS in Summer 1977. They released one more album on ABC in 1978, produced by Frank Wilson and containing the popular ballad, "My Reason To Be" by songwriters Judy Wieder and John Footman. The pair signed with CBS Records the following year and released their last album as a duo until October 2008 when the pair released The Many Faces of Love, a collection of hit songs from the 1960s and 1970s.
The album Marilyn and Billy featured the track "Saving All My Love for You", later sung by Whitney Houston, as well as a disco hit, "Shine On Silver Moon". The pair decided to go solo professionally in the early 1980s.
In 1982 Davis recorded a gospel album, Let Me Have A Dream, with Rev. James Cleveland. Davis followed up that project with a guest appearance on a jazz/pop album by Scott Scheer.
Davis starred in the musical "Blues in the Night" at the Old Globe Theatre. In the role of James "Thunder" Early, he also starred in the North Carolina Theatre production of "Dreamgirls". Kay McLain, of the Durham Herald-Sun, wrote, "Davis made an endearing character of Early…give him a microphone and the spotlight and he’s a pro." In his later guest appearances on the WB’s Jamie Foxx Show, he and McCoo played the affluent parents of Foxx's girlfriend, Fancy. Over the years, Davis has made frequent appearances on most of the national morning and night time talk and variety shows.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
|
|
Studio albums |
|
Singles |
|
Related topics |
|
|
|
1958−1979 |
- "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)" by Domenico Modugno (1958)
- "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin (1959)
- "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith (1960)
- "Moon River" by Henry Mancini (1961)
- "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett (1962)
- "Days of Wine and Roses" by Henry Mancini (1963)
- "The Girl from Ipanema" by Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz (1964)
- "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (1965)
- "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra (1966)
- "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore & Ron Townson) (1967)
- "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) (1968)
- "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore & Ron Townson) (1969)
- "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) (1970)
- "It's Too Late" by Carole King (1971)
- "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack (1972)
- "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack (1973)
- "I Honestly Love You" by Olivia Newton-John (1974)
- "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille (Daryl Dragon & Toni Tennille) (1975)
- "This Masquerade" by George Benson (1976)
- "Hotel California" by Eagles (Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner & Joe Walsh) (1977)
- "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (1978)
- "What a Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers (Jeffrey Baxter, John Hartman, Keith Knudsen, Michael McDonald, Tiran Porter & Patrick Simmons) (1979)
|
1980−1999 |
- "Sailing" by Christopher Cross (1980)
- "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes (1981)
- "Rosanna" by Toto (David Hungate, Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro & Steve Porcaro) (1982)
- "Beat It" by Michael Jackson (1983)
- "What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner (1984)
- "We Are the World" by USA for Africa (1985)
- "Higher Love" by Steve Winwood (1986)
- "Graceland" by Paul Simon (1987)
- "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin (1988)
- "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler (1989)
- "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins (1990)
- "Unforgettable" by Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole (1991)
- "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton (1992)
- "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (1993)
- "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow (1994)
- "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal (1995)
- "Change the World" by Eric Clapton (1996)
- "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin (1997)
- "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion (1998)
- "Smooth" by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana & Chester Thompson) featuring Rob Thomas (1999)
|
2000−2019 |
- "Beautiful Day" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge & Larry Mullen Jr.) (2000)
- "Walk On" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge & Larry Mullen Jr.) (2001)
- "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones (2002)
- "Clocks" by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Phil Harvey & Chris Martin) (2003)
- "Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles & Norah Jones (2004)
- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt & Frank Edwin Wright III) (2005)
- "Not Ready to Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines & Emily Robison) (2006)
- "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (2007)
- "Please Read the Letter" by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (2008)
- "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon (Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill) (2009)
- "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum (Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley & Dave Haywood) (2010)
- "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele (2011)
- "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra (2012)
- "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers (2013)
- "Stay with Me" (Darkchild version) by Sam Smith (2014)
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (2015)
- "Hello" by Adele (2016)
- "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars (2017)
- "This Is America" by Childish Gambino (2019)
- "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish (2019)
|
2020−present |
|
|
1958−1979 |
- "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)" by Domenico Modugno (1958)
- "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin (1959)
- "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith (1960)
- "Moon River" by Henry Mancini (1961)
- "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett (1962)
- "Days of Wine and Roses" by Henry Mancini (1963)
- "The Girl from Ipanema" by Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz (1964)
- "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (1965)
- "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra (1966)
- "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore & Ron Townson) (1967)
- "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) (1968)
- "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension (Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore & Ron Townson) (1969)
- "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon) (1970)
- "It's Too Late" by Carole King (1971)
- "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack (1972)
- "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack (1973)
- "I Honestly Love You" by Olivia Newton-John (1974)
- "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille (Daryl Dragon & Toni Tennille) (1975)
- "This Masquerade" by George Benson (1976)
- "Hotel California" by Eagles (Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner & Joe Walsh) (1977)
- "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (1978)
- "What a Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers (Jeffrey Baxter, John Hartman, Keith Knudsen, Michael McDonald, Tiran Porter & Patrick Simmons) (1979)
|
1980−1999 |
- "Sailing" by Christopher Cross (1980)
- "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes (1981)
- "Rosanna" by Toto (David Hungate, Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro & Steve Porcaro) (1982)
- "Beat It" by Michael Jackson (1983)
- "What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner (1984)
- "We Are the World" by USA for Africa (1985)
- "Higher Love" by Steve Winwood (1986)
- "Graceland" by Paul Simon (1987)
- "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin (1988)
- "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler (1989)
- "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins (1990)
- "Unforgettable" by Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole (1991)
- "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton (1992)
- "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (1993)
- "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow (1994)
- "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal (1995)
- "Change the World" by Eric Clapton (1996)
- "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin (1997)
- "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion (1998)
- "Smooth" by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana & Chester Thompson) featuring Rob Thomas (1999)
|
2000−2019 |
- "Beautiful Day" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge & Larry Mullen Jr.) (2000)
- "Walk On" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge & Larry Mullen Jr.) (2001)
- "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones (2002)
- "Clocks" by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Phil Harvey & Chris Martin) (2003)
- "Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles & Norah Jones (2004)
- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt & Frank Edwin Wright III) (2005)
- "Not Ready to Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines & Emily Robison) (2006)
- "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (2007)
- "Please Read the Letter" by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (2008)
- "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon (Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill) (2009)
- "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum (Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley & Dave Haywood) (2010)
- "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele (2011)
- "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra (2012)
- "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers (2013)
- "Stay with Me" (Darkchild version) by Sam Smith (2014)
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (2015)
- "Hello" by Adele (2016)
- "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars (2017)
- "This Is America" by Childish Gambino (2019)
- "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish (2019)
|
2020−present |
|