Billie Davis
Encyclopedia
Billie Davis is an English
female singer
who had hits
in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK
hit version
of the song
, "Tell Him" (1963) and "I Want You to Be My Baby
" (1968).
, Robert Stigwood
, and was derived from those of blues
singer Billie Holiday
and the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
In her teens
Hedges was an engineering secretary before she started her recording
career. After winning a talent contest in which she was backed by Cliff Bennett
's band, the Rebel Rousers, she cut some early demo
records
with the Tornados
for record producer
Joe Meek
. However, her first commercial success, under Stigwood's guidance, was "Will I What", released in August 1962, on which she performed as a foil to Mike Sarne
, rather as Wendy Richard
had done on Sarne's chart-topping disc, "Come Outside
". This reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart
in September 1962.
In February 1963 Davis had her biggest success with a cover version of The Exciters
' "Tell Him". This song, written
by Bert Russell (sometimes known as Bert Berns), was covered in the sixties by a number of other artists, including Helen Shapiro
and Alma Cogan
, and successfully revived in the late 1990s by Vonda Shepard
, for the American
Fox
television program
, Ally McBeal
. Davis' recording reached number ten in the UK chart
, and was followed by "He's The One", which crept into the Top 40 in May 1963.
, Davis left Decca
records, with which she had had some financial disagreements. In September of that year, she suffered a broken jaw when a chauffeur-driven limousine
, in which she and Jet Harris
, former bass guitar
ist of the Shadows
, were returning from a concert
in Worcester
, crashed in the West Midlands
. Harris received head injuries that seriously affected his already troubled career. The reporting in the press of a relationship with Harris, an unhappily married man, earned Davis, still only 17, some unwelcome publicity at a difficult time and may have been one of the factors which held back her career. In an interview included in the liner notes of the 2007 compilation CD Whatcha Gonna Do? (RPM 326), Davis acknowledges the scandal, but also places blame on the "lost momentum" from being unable to record for four months due to having her jaw wired shut after the accident. Despite the high regard in which many held her as a performer, she never achieved the fame of such contemporaries as Cilla Black
or Sandie Shaw
.
, long boots
of the kind popularised by Honor Blackman
in early episodes of The Avengers
and leather mini-skirts
. She was said to have beaten the latter for 'percussive effect' when recording. The biographer of the "supergroup
" Cream
has described her as "astonishingly photogenic".
's "Angel of the Morning
", on which she was backed by, amongst others, Kiki Dee
and P. P. Arnold
. The latter recorded the song herself and had the bigger hit in 1968. Davis' final chart entry was a Northern soul
version of Jon Hendricks
' "I Want You to Be My Baby", originally recorded by Louis Jordan
in 1952, which reached number 33 in October 1968, although sales were affected by an industrial dispute at the manufacturing plant.
Davis left Decca in April 1971 after a stay of eight years. She continued to record into the 1980s and was popular, in particular, with audiences in the Spanish
-speaking world. Some of her work was reissued on compilation
CDs
, including her cover of Burt Bacharach
's "The Last One to Be Loved", which appeared on Sequel Records', Trains & Boats & Covers (1999). A retrospective collection of her recordings for Decca was released in 2005.
In 2006 she was re-united with Jet Harris for a series for concerts.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
female singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
who had hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
hit version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
, "Tell Him" (1963) and "I Want You to Be My Baby
I Want You to Be My Baby
I Want You to Be My Baby is a jump blues song written by Jon Hendricks for Louis Jordan whose recording - made 28 May 1953 - was an R&B hit that autumn....
" (1968).
Early career
Davis' performing name was suggested by the impresarioImpresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
, and was derived from those of blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
and the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
In her teens
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
Hedges was an engineering secretary before she started her recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
career. After winning a talent contest in which she was backed by Cliff Bennett
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were a 1960s British rhythm and blues, soul and beat group who had two Top 10 hits with "One Way Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life" ....
's band, the Rebel Rousers, she cut some early demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
with the Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
for record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Joe Meek
Joe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter....
. However, her first commercial success, under Stigwood's guidance, was "Will I What", released in August 1962, on which she performed as a foil to Mike Sarne
Mike Sarne
Mike Sarne is a British actor, director and former pop singer.Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. Active in the 1960s as singer, he is best known for his 1962 UK comedy number one hit, "Come Outside"...
, rather as Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
had done on Sarne's chart-topping disc, "Come Outside
Come Outside (song)
"Come Outside" was a number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1962 for Mike Sarne and actress Wendy Richard who provided vocals.A cover version of the song by Judge Dread, with more explicit lyrics than the original, was a UK Top 20 hit in 1975....
". This reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in September 1962.
In February 1963 Davis had her biggest success with a cover version of The Exciters
The Exciters
The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
' "Tell Him". This song, written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by Bert Russell (sometimes known as Bert Berns), was covered in the sixties by a number of other artists, including Helen Shapiro
Helen Shapiro
Helen Kate Shapiro is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness".-Early life:...
and Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era...
, and successfully revived in the late 1990s by Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard is an American pop/rock singer. She appeared as a regular in the television show Ally McBeal from seasons 1-5 in which she played a resident performer at the bar where the show's characters drank after work. She plays piano, guitar, and bass.-Biography:Vonda Shepard was born in New...
, for the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
. Davis' recording reached number ten in the UK chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, and was followed by "He's The One", which crept into the Top 40 in May 1963.
Setback
In 1963, the year in which popular music was transformed by the rise of The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Davis left Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
records, with which she had had some financial disagreements. In September of that year, she suffered a broken jaw when a chauffeur-driven limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
, in which she and Jet Harris
Jet Harris
Jet Harris, MBE was an English musician. He was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer Tony Meehan....
, former bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist of the Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
, were returning from a concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
in Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, crashed in the West Midlands
West Midlands conurbation
The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the large towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge, Halesowen in the English West Midlands....
. Harris received head injuries that seriously affected his already troubled career. The reporting in the press of a relationship with Harris, an unhappily married man, earned Davis, still only 17, some unwelcome publicity at a difficult time and may have been one of the factors which held back her career. In an interview included in the liner notes of the 2007 compilation CD Whatcha Gonna Do? (RPM 326), Davis acknowledges the scandal, but also places blame on the "lost momentum" from being unable to record for four months due to having her jaw wired shut after the accident. Despite the high regard in which many held her as a performer, she never achieved the fame of such contemporaries as Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
or Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
.
Style
Davis was an early proponent of many of the fashion styles for which the 1960s are remembered: bobbed hairBob cut
A "bob cut" is a short haircut for women in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at about jaw-level, often with a fringe at the front.-The beginning:...
, long boots
Kinky boots
Kinky boots are boots with extreme characteristics which are intended to present a dramatic sexy appearance, such as by a prostitute or dominatrix. Extreme characteristics might include very high heels, thigh- or crotch-high length, or unusual colors or materials. They can be related to boot...
of the kind popularised by Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman is an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger .-Early life:...
in early episodes of The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
and leather mini-skirts
Miniskirt
A miniskirt, sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees – generally no longer than below the buttocks; and a minidress is a dress with a similar meaning...
. She was said to have beaten the latter for 'percussive effect' when recording. The biographer of the "supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
" Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
has described her as "astonishingly photogenic".
Later career
Returning to Decca in the late 1960s Davis made some recordings, including Chip TaylorChip Taylor
James Wesley Voight , better known by his stage name as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight...
's "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
", on which she was backed by, amongst others, Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....
and P. P. Arnold
P. P. Arnold
P. P. Arnold is an American-born soul singer who enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and beyond.-Early life:...
. The latter recorded the song herself and had the bigger hit in 1968. Davis' final chart entry was a Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
version of Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks
Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
' "I Want You to Be My Baby", originally recorded by Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
in 1952, which reached number 33 in October 1968, although sales were affected by an industrial dispute at the manufacturing plant.
Davis left Decca in April 1971 after a stay of eight years. She continued to record into the 1980s and was popular, in particular, with audiences in the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speaking world. Some of her work was reissued on compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, including her cover of Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
's "The Last One to Be Loved", which appeared on Sequel Records', Trains & Boats & Covers (1999). A retrospective collection of her recordings for Decca was released in 2005.
In 2006 she was re-united with Jet Harris for a series for concerts.
UK Singles
- "Will I What" (as 'Mike Sarne with Billie Davis') b/w “Bird, You Know I Love Ya” - August 1962 - ParlophoneParlophoneParlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
R4932 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#18 - "Tell Him" (Russell) b/w "I'm Thankful" (Blackwell) - February 1963 - DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
F11572 UK #10 - "He's The One" (Blackwell) b/w "V.I.P." (Stephens) - May 1963 - Decca F11658 UK #40
- “Bedtime Stories” b/w “You and I” – Sep 1963 – Columbia DB 7115
- “That Boy John” b/w “Say Nothin’ Don’t Tell” – Feb 1964 – Columbia DB 7195
- “School Is Over” b/w “Give Me Love” – Mar 1964 – Columbia DB 7246
- “Watcha Gonna Do” b/w Everybody Knows” – Sep 1964 – Columbia DB 7346
- ”The Last One To Be Loved” b/w “You Don’t Know” – Mar 1965 – Piccadilly 7N 35227
- “No Other Baby” b/w “Hands Off” – Oct 1965 – Piccadilly 7N 35266
- “When You Move, You Lose” (as 'Keith and Billie') b/w “Tastes Sour Don’t It” – Jan 1966 – Piccadilly 7N 35288
- “Heart and Soul” b/w Don’t Take All Night” – Apr 1966 – Piccadilly 7N 35308
- “You Don’t Know Like I Know” (as ‘Keith and Billie’) b/w “Two Little People” – Jun 1966 – Piccadilly 7N 35321
- “That’s Really Some Good” (as ‘Keith and Billie’) b/w “Swinging Tight” – Sep 1966 – Piccadilly 7N 35340
- “Just Walk In My Shoes” b/w “Ev’ry Day” – Oct 1966 – Piccadilly 7N 35350
- “Wasn’t It You” b/w “Until It’s Time For You To Go” – Jun 1967 – Decca F 12620
- “Angel of the MorningAngel of the Morning"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
” b/w “Darling Be Home Soon” – Nov 1967 – Decca F 12696 - "I Want You To Be My Baby" b/w “Suffer” - Oct 1968 - Decca F12823 UK #33
- “Make The Feeling Go Away” b/w “I’ll Come Home” – Jan 1969 – Decca F 12870
- “I Can Remember” b/w “Nobodys Home to Go Home To” – May 1969 – Decca F 12923
- “Nights in White SatinNights in White Satin"Nights in White Satin" is a 1967 single by The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward and first featured on the album Days of Future Passed.It is in the key of E minor Aeolian.-Single releases:...
” b/w “It’s Over” – Nov 1969 – Decca F 12977 - “There Must Be A Reason” b/w “Love” – Oct 1970 – Decca F 13085
- “I Tried” b/w “Touch My Love” – May 1972 – Regal Zonophone RZ 3050
- “I Want You To Be My Baby” b/w “It’s Over” – Aug 1972 – Decca F 13334 reissue
- “Anyway That You Want Me” b/w “Everybody Dance” – Jan 1976 – United Artists UP 36058
- “I’ve Been Loving Someone Else” b/w “Beyond The Pale” – Feb 1976 – United Artists UP 36066
- “Anyway That You Want Me” b/w Somewhere Along The Line” – Jun 1976 – United Artists UP 361178
- “I’ll Dance The Ants Back Into Your Pants” b/w “If I Ask You To Stay” – Aug 1977 – Phillips 6006 583
- “Run Joey Run” b/w “Easy Come, Easy Go” – Jun 1978 – Magnet MAG 124
- “Bright Lights” b/w “I Want You To Be My Baby” – 1983 - Linero BDT 2
- “The Kiss” b/w “The Kiss” (Remix) – Dec 1984 – Alternative AKISS 1
- “Back In Our Rock ‘n’ Roll Days” – Nov 1998 – Strange Country 0001