Singer-songwriter Mac Davis died on September 29th at the age of 78 after suffering a heart attack in Nashville, according to Tennessean.com. When starting out, the Lubbock, Texas-born Davis wrote several hits for Elvis Presley — including the standards, “In The Ghetto,” “Don't Cry Daddy,” “Memories,” and “A Little Less Conversation.”
As a solo artist, Davis was a staple of 1970's Top 40, TV, and film — with such major hits as the 1972 three-week chart-topper “Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me,” the Top Ten “Stop And Smell The Roses,” and the Top 20 hits “One Hell Of A Woman,” and “Rock N' Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life).” Davis was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000.
As an actor, Davis will be best remembered for his NBC variety show The Mac Davis Show, which ran from 1974 to 1976, and his co-starring role in 1979's North Dallas Forty.
Not too long ago, we caught up with Mac Davis and asked him about submitting some of his most enduring songs to “The King,” Elvis Presley: “'In The Ghetto,' I had been. . . I wrote that, just for my own satisfaction, and after the (1968 'comeback') special, after 'Memories' became a hit, he wanted to go down to Memphis and cut some serious stuff, and I gave him everything I had and the first two songs on the tape were 'In The Ghetto,' and 'Don't Cry Daddy.'”
