Spencer Davis

Spencer Davis

Davis performing in July 2006
Background information
Birth name Spencer David Nelson Davies
Born (1939-07-17) 17 July 1939
Swansea, Wales
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments
Years active 1963–present
Labels
Associated acts The Spencer Davis Group
Website spencer-davis-group.com
External video
Oral History, Spencer Davis talks about being invited by the Beatles to hang out at the Atlantic hotel during their Magical Mystery Tour. Interview date January 21, 2012, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

Spencer Davis (born Spencer David Nelson Davies, 17 July 1939) is a Welsh musician and multi-instrumentalist, and the founder of the 1960s rock band The Spencer Davis Group.[1] Davis dropped the E in Davies and became Davis because in England and in the US his last name was pronounced "Daveys" and not Davis as in the Welsh pronunciation.

Early life

Davis was born in Swansea, in south Wales. His father served as a paratrooper. Influenced by his Uncle Herman's mandolin playing, Spencer Davis began learning to play harmonica and accordion at the age of six. He then attended Dynevor School, where he passed seven GCE O-level examinations. He moved to London when he was sixteen, and began working in the civil service as a clerical officer at the Post Office Savings Bank in Hammersmith and for HM Customs and Excise; but went back to his old school to study for A-levels in languages, becoming Head Boy in 1959. In 1960 he moved to Birmingham, to read German at the University of Birmingham.[2] In music circles, Davis was later known as "Professor".[3]

Early music career

His early musical influences were skiffle, jazz, and blues, the mainstays of popular music in the early 1960s. Influential artists include Big Bill Broonzy, Huddy Ledbetter, Buddy Holly, Davey Graham, John Martyn, Alexis Korner and Long John Baldry. By the time he was sixteen Davis was hooked on the guitar and the American rhythm and blues music making its way across the Atlantic. With few opportunities to hear R&B in south Wales, Davis sought out any performance that came to town. When he heard a Dixieland band perform a skiffle version of the R&B song "John Henry", Davis formed a band called The Saints, with Bill Perks, who later changed his name to Bill Wyman.

When Davis moved to Birmingham, as a student he often performed on stage after his teaching work day was finished. While in Birmingham, he dated Christine Perfect, who later married Fleetwood Mac's John McVie. They busked and played in folk clubs with the Ian Campbell Trio. With Perfect on piano and Davis on 12 string guitar, they performed Canadian folk songs, such as "Spring Hill" and "Nova Scotia". They also interpreted W. C. Handy and Lead Belly songs.

The Spencer Davis Group

Spencer Davis (guitar) rehearsing in Amsterdam (1966); Muff Winwood on bass

In 1963, Davis went to a Birmingham public house to see Muff Woody, a traditional jazz band featuring Muff and Steve Winwood. Steve, only fifteen at the time, was already gaining notice for his musical abilities. Muff, five years older than his brother, was an accomplished jazz musician. Davis persuaded them to join him and drummer Pete York as the Rhythm and Blues Quartet. Davis performed on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Steve Winwood on guitar, organ and vocals, Muff Winwood on bass, and Pete York on drums. Playing mainly R&B covers, the band performed first at the Golden Eagle pub on Hill Street, but within a year they had landed a regular gig at The Marquee, and by 1964 had adopted the name The Spencer Davis Group. The group had No 1 hits in the UK with consecutive single releases in 1966 ("Keep on Running" and "Somebody Help Me"). Steve Winwood sang lead vocals on all the Spencer Davis Group's hits up to "I'm A Man" in 1967.

The Spencer Davis Group continued after Winwood left to form Traffic in April 1967. The group split in 1969. Another version of the group with Davis and York appeared in 1973 and disbanded in late 1974. Various incarnations of the band have toured in recent years, under Davis' direction.

Solo career

After the group broke up, Davis moved to California and recorded an acoustic album with Peter Jameson, It's Been So Long for Mediarts in mid-1971. He followed it up with a solo album Mousetrap for United Artists, produced by and featuring Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Neither album sold. Soon after, he moved back to the UK and formed a new Spencer Davis Group and signed with Vertigo.

Current activities

While remaining honorary member and supporter of the Wales nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, Davis now lives in Avalon on Catalina Island, a small island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California.

Davis is currently recording with Latin Rock legends El Chicano and is featured on guitar on one of the tracks from El Chicano's most recent studio album due to be released in April 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "The Spencer Davis Group". The Spencer Davis Group. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  2. ↑ Clayson, Alan (1988). Back in the High Life. Sidgewick and Jackson. ISBN 0-283-99640-4.
  3. ↑
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