Stephen Allen Davis (October 4, 1949 – December 26, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter. Many of his songs are credited as "Steve Davis". He has written 18 number one songs for various artists, including the single " Stand Beside Me" for country artist Jo Dee Messina, which spent three weeks atop the Billboard

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and earned Davis a triple Million-Air certificate from BMI for the more than three million performances it has received.BMI.com
3 Million Strong The album was also certified Triple Platinum.

Biography

Hailing from Hendersonville, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, Davis was a nationally ranked tournament water skier in his teens, but after seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, everything changed, and music became his passion.
/ref> Stephen formed his first combos and started playing at dances and writing songs when he was 14. He got his first professional gig playing bass with a band called "Billy Osbourne and the Tracers," who gigged at the infamous

Printer's Alley Printer's Alley is a famous alley in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., between Third and Fourth Avenues, running from Union Street to Commerce Street. The portion of the alley between Union and Church Street is the home of a nightclub district ...

in Nashville. After spending a summer playing at a biker bar in Indianapolis with the band, Stephen's parents wanted him to return to Nashville to attend college. Once back in town, Stephen wanted to pursue a full-time music and songwriting career. Davis sought advice from his uncle, **

Harold Bradley Harold Ray Bradley (January 2, 1926 – January 31, 2019) was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session ...

, on how to get into the music business. He suggested that Stephen talk to a music publisher. Harold called an old friend of his,

Norro Wilson Norris Denton "Norro" Wilson (April 4, 1938 – June 8, 2017) was an American country music singer-songwriter, producer, and member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wilson wrote or co-wrote numerous hit songs during more than 40 ye ...

, who ran Al Gallico Music located in New York City but with an active office in Nashville, and set up a meeting for Davis to come into the Gallico Music office on Music Row or 16th Ave as it was called then. That meeting with Norro Wilson led to his first songwriter publishing deal and his first Top #5 record. Davis was awarded two BMI awards for the song in 1968 and 1969. The first award was an R&B award, and the second was a Pop Award. Davis has gone on to earn 17 more BMI awards over the years with three million plus performance songs. That song by Percy Sledge was " Take Time to Know Her". Once the song started moving up the charts, he signed his first major record deal with RCA. He had just turned 18. Davis had over 400 songs recorded by various artists, including Joe Cocker,

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

. He also released nine LPs of his own. ''The Desert Sessions'', with a later project bring a live concert that also aired on PBS. ''^**'' '' Harold and his brother Owen Bradley were two of the founders of Music Row with the first studio in Nashville called the Quonset Hut that became the famous Studio B at CBS Columbia's Label; Harold Bradley has been given the title of "Most Recorded Guitar Player" of all time) Owen produced some of the day's biggest hits with Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, and Patsy Cline. He headed up Dot Records for many years.'' Davis died on December 26, 2022, at the age of 73.

List of cuts and singles written by Stephen Allen Davis

* Jo Dee Messina – " Stand Beside Me" * Joe Cocker - "Just To Keep From Drowning", "No Ordinary World", I Will Live For You", "Highway, Highway", "The Way Her Love Is", "Different Roads", "Love On A Fade" * Diana Ross - "The Best Years Of My Life" *

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 196 ...

– " Take Time to Know Her" * Meatloaf - "Where Angels Sing" *

– "One of a Kind", "No One Else in the World" * Alabama - "Down on Longboat Key" * Little Texas – " Amy's Back in Austin" *

– " Just a Little Love" *

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country music, country, sou ...

– "Beautiful Woman" *

– " There's No Love in Tennessee", " Only a Lonely Heart Knows" *

Charly McClain Charlotte Denise "Charly" McClain (born March 26, 1956) is an American country music singer, best known for a string of hits during the 1980s. McClain's biggest hits include "Who's Cheatin' Who", " Sleepin' with the Radio On", and " Radio Heart" ...

– " Sleepin' with the Radio On", " Radio Heart", " With Just One Look in Your Eyes" *

Johnny Rodriguez Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez (born December 10, 1951) is an American country music singer. He is a Tejano and Texas country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish. In the 1970s an ...

– "North of the Border", "I Want You Tonight" * Johnny Duncan – "Hello Mexico (and Adios Baby to You)" *

Joe Stampley Joe Stampley (born June 6, 1943) is an American country music singer. He had success as the lead singer of a rock group, in a country duo with Moe Bandy and as a solo performer. Stampley has released over 20 albums and more than 60 singles in ...

– "Dear Woman", "Penny", " Take Time to Know Her"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Stephen Allen 1949 births 2022 deaths People from Hendersonville, Tennessee American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Tennessee