Anecdotes

He was a successful singer/songwriter who made a brief, but acclaimed, transition into acting. As a songwriter, he wrote the hit "In the Ghetto" for Elvis Presley and he wrote and performed the hits "I Believe In Music" and "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me".

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

He also wrote the song "Watching Scotty Grow", which Bobby Goldsboro made a #11 hit single in early 1971. (Scotty was Davis's real-life son; both men joked later that when the song was released, Scotty Davis began to think Goldsboro was really his dad.).

Some of his songs (such as "Don't Cry, Daddy" and "In the Ghetto", performed by Elvis Presley) were credited to "Scott" or "Scotty" Davis, after his son.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1979" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 31. (1979)

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

He had three children all together.

Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame on March 6, 2014 in Austin, Texas.

Ex-wife, Sarah, married Glen Campbell soon after her divorce from Davis.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Davis among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Upon his death, he was buried in Lubbock, Texas.

On January 19, 1985, Davis performed "God Bless the USA" at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, held the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan.

Has one granddaughter.

Born Scott Davis in Buddy Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Texas, he began performing in local rock groups while still in his teens.

In 1985, he had recorded his last Top Ten hit, "I Never Made Love ('Til I Made Love with You).".

A co-starring role opposite Jackie Gleason and Karl Malden in 1983's disastrous The Sting II effectively ended seriously slowed the momentum of his film career, though he continued to work in smaller projects and made-for-TV movies into the 2010s.

He was the son of Edith Irene (Lankford) and Thomas Jefferson "T. J." Davis.

Davis became famous as a songwriter and got his start as an employee of Nancy Sinatra's company, Boots Enterprises, Inc. Davis was with Boots for several years in the late 1960s. During his time there, he played on many of Sinatra's recordings, and she worked him into her stage shows. Boots Enterprises also acted as Davis's publishing company, publishing songs such as "In the Ghetto", "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife", "Home", "It's Such a Lonely Time of Year", and "Memories", which were recorded by Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, B. J. Thomas, and many others. Davis left Boots Enterprises in 1970 to sign with Columbia Records, taking all of his songs with him.

In 1990, Davis made a comeback as a songwriter, co-authoring Dolly Parton's hit "White Limozeen"; that same year, he also took over the title role in the Broadway hit The Will Rogers Follies.

Will Write Songs for Food, his first LP in nearly a decade, appeared in 1994.