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 |  Sujet: Sheriff Tex Davis , 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' co-writer dies at 93 Ven 31 Aoû 2007, 12:25 | |
| Thursday, 08/30/07Colleagues remember Sheriff Tex DavisSong promoter, 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' co-writer, dies at 93
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Sheriff Tex Davis, whose efforts as a songwriter, manager and promoter altered rock 'n' roll and country music history, died Wednesday at 5:55 a.m. He was 93, and had recently been released from the hospital after a long period of declining health.Mr. Davis is credited with co-writing the Gene Vincent smash "Be-Bop-A-Lula," he managed Vincent to popularity, and later Mr. Davis took a job as promotion man at Monument Records in Nashville, where he pitched now-classics from Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Jeannie Seely and many others to radio station
All of this from a man borin Connecticut as William Douchette."He was a very … colorful character," chuckled Monument boss Fred Foster. "And he was very important to the business. Tex never met a stranger."Mr. Douchette became "Sheriff Tex Davis" quite suddenly one day, after WLOW radio in Norfolk, Va., gave him a disc jockey job for a country music show. "Douchette" didn't sound terribly country, and the station ran an introduction with the sound effect of a horse galloping. When the horse sounds stopped, the nervous disc jockey improvised, "This is Sheriff Tex Davis here," and the name stuck.In 1954, Mr. Davis opened Norfolk station WCMS, where he did disc jockey work and also booked Grand Ole Opry acts into the Norfolk Arena. Soon, Gene Vincent began hanging around WCMS, and Mr. Davis was impressed by his voice. Stories vary as to the creation of "Be-Bop-A-Lula" — Foster believes Vincent had much of the song together but that Mr. Davis contributed four or five lines — but the finished song was catchy enough that Mr. Davis signed Vincent to a management deal and began shopping the song (and two others) to labels.Song became classicCapitol Records producer Ken Nelson instructed Mr. Davis to bring Vincent and his band, The Blue Caps, to Nashville to record at Owen Bradley's studio. The result was an enduring classic that is now part of rock 'n' roll's DNA. It has been covered by John Lennon, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and hundreds of others. Mr. Davis and Vincent wrote several other songs together before parting company less than a year later.Mr. Davis went back to radio, but in 1967 he moved to Middle Tennessee to promote Monument singles to radio."Back then, a promoter also did sales, marketing, artist development, press publicity and all sorts of other things," said Jeannie Seely. "He taught me so much, in terms of learning to deal with people. They all loved him."Foster said Mr. Davis was ideal for the position.Mr. Davis cultivated his "Sheriff Tex" image, even adding a little Southern-flavored grift to his conversational repertoire. "After he changed his name to Tex Davis, he said at first that his real name was William Davis," Foster said. "But William Davis didn't sound Southern enough."The Southern solution? William Beauregard Davis.Mr. Davis also served his country in World War II.He is survived by his wife, Betty, daughter Bobbi and son Michael.Visitation is at noon Saturday, with services at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Hendersonville.source http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/ENTERTAINMENT01/708300428/1055/ENTERTAINMENT Legendary producer KEN NELSON (center) with Sheriff Tex Davis (left) and Gene Vincentsourcehttp://www.rockabillyhall.com/KenNelson1.html source http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d04/4404.htm |
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