Today In Oldies 9/14/2010

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Everything Oldies......with the latest from the news desk.......

• Reunion fever seems to be reaching epidemic levels again......who's the latest to catch it?  
• A 70's cult classic movie suddenly has a few of its stars filled with "Glee" 
• What's easier to write about.....spinning webs or political unrest in Ireland?  A man who has covered both topics lets us know!
• He was born in England, currently resides in Switzerland, and once played gigs in London & Philadelphia on the same day.  Now he's an honorary citizen of Motown  
• Three Beatles have had sons follow them into music......now it's officially all (fab) four.  
• Look both ways before you cross Joey Dee & The Starliters Square! 
• Robert Plant says getting to "Whole Lotta Love" took a whole lotta luck

Where In The World Is........Mac Davis?

Mac Davis was one of the few artists in pop history to successfully conquer both the pop and country music charts, write dozens of successful songs (most notably for Elvis Presley late in his career), and have success as an actor in TV and feature films. 

Born in Lubbock, Texas in 1942, Mac Davis's first taste of the music business came as a staffer at Nancy Sinatra's Boots Enterprises, Inc.  He played on several of Sinatra's hits and began writing songs via Boots Enterprises' publishing division.  It was there that he wrote two songs that became Elvis classics, "In The Ghetto" and "Memories", and another that would become a posthumous Elvis hit more than 30 years later, "A Little Less Conversation". He also wrote several other hits for other artists, with his biggest being Gallery's "I Believe In Music".

Davis left Boots Enterprises for Columbia Records in 1970 to embark on a solo writing and recording career.  Success as a singer came quickly, with his biggest hit as a singer or songwriter, "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me", hitting #1 in 1972.  Several other pop hits followed throughout the 70's, including "Stop and Smell The Roses" in 1974 and "Rock N' Roll (I Gave You The Best Years of My Life)" in 1975.  In the 1970's, pop chart success could normally be parlayed into a weekly network prime time TV variety show, and Mac Davis moved into that world with The Mac Davis Show, which ran for two seasons on NBC. 

Country music has always provided a haven for artists whose pop chart star has faded, and by 1976 Mac Davis had crossed over to the Nashville side of the business.  A string of Country hits followed, including "It's Hard To Be Humble", "Texas In My Rearview Mirror", and "Hooked On Music".  His acting career began to take off as well, with starring roles in the hit feature film North Dallas Forty and Cheaper To Keep Her and numerous TV guest appearances.  In the late 80's, he also conquered Broadway starring in a production of "The Will Rogers Follies". 

Mac Davis's huge success as a singer and songwriter came to an end in the mid-80's, and since then he's focused primarily on acting appearances.  Accolades for his songwriting accomplishments have come in the past few years, with induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 and the West Texas Hall of Fame (with a plaque directly beneath Buddy Holly).  Avenue Q in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas has also been renamed Mac Davis Lane. 

Today, Mac Davis claims the golf course as his "office".  He makes an occasional TV guest appearance and movie cameo, most notably King of the Hill, Rodney, 8 Simple Rules, and the straight-to-DVD feature Beer For My Horses starring Willie Nelson and Toby Keith. TMZ has a photo of Davis taken in June 2010 at an event in Los Angeles. 

When you've had the kind of career Mac Davis has had, it's hard to be humble.  From a 1980 appearance on The Muppet Show.......

Golden Hits Radio and GHR-2's Burning Question of the Day

One of many odd jobs Tom Jones had before becoming a music superstar was selling what door to door?  (While it would be funny if it were women's underwear, sadly, it isn't)

Check back tomorrow @ Everything Oldies for the answer, and leave a Comment here with your best guess!

Yesterday's Burning Question (and Answer) of the Day

Which member of The Rolling Stones released a 1974 solo record cleverly entitled "I've Got My Own Album To Do"?

Answer: Ron Wood, but the title actually has nothing to do with the Stones.  At the time, Ron was a member of The Faces, and the title was a not too subtle dig at lead singer Rod Stewart.  Wood felt Rod was more concerned with his solo records than being the Faces' frontman.  The album was an all-star affair, featuring contributions from future bandmates Mick Jagger & Keith Richards and George Harrison.