Billie Davis | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Carol Hedges |
| Born | 22 December 1945 Woking, Surrey, England |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1962-present |
| Labels | Decca |
| Website | |
Carol Hedges (born 22 December 1945), [1] known professionally as Billie Davis, is an English 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).
She was born in Woking, Surrey, England. [1] Davis' performing name was suggested by the impresario, Robert Stigwood, and was derived from those of blues singer Billie Holiday and the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. [2] 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. [3] However, her first commercial success, under Stigwood's guidance, was "Will I What", released in August 1962, [4] 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. [5]
In February 1963 Davis had her biggest success with a cover version of The Exciters' "Tell Him". Written by Bert Russell (also known as Bert Berns), this song was covered in the sixties by a number of artists, including Helen Shapiro and Alma Cogan, and was 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. [6]
In 1963, the year in which popular music was transformed by the rise of The Beatles, Davis left Decca records owing to financial disagreements. In September of that year she suffered a broken jaw when a chauffeur-driven limousine [7] in which she and Jet Harris, former bass guitarist of the Shadows, were returning from a concert in Worcester, [8] crashed in the West Midlands. Harris received head injuries that seriously affected his already troubled career. [9] The reporting in the press of a relationship with Harris (24 at the time), an unhappily married man, [10] 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.[ citation needed ] In an interview included in the liner notes of the 2007 compilation CD Whatcha Gonna Do? (RPM 326), Davis acknowledged the scandal, but also placed blame for the "lost momentum" on being unable to record for four months due to having her jaw wired shut after the accident. [11]
Davis was an early proponent of many of the fashion styles for which the 1960s are remembered: bobbed hair, 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. [12] The biographer of the "supergroup" Cream described her as "astonishingly photogenic". [8]
In 1966, Davis paired with Keith Powell (Keith Powell and the Valets) as "Keith (Powell) and Billie (Davis)" under the Piccadilly record label. They released three singles including "Swingin' Tight", which while popular did not make the chart and the short lived pairing was dissolved. In the late 1960s, Davis returned to Decca, with former Ready Steady Go! presenter Michael Aldred as her producer. Recordings included Chip Taylor's "Angel of the Morning", in 1967, on which she was backed by, amongst others, Kiki Dee and P. P. Arnold. Arnold later 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, [6] although sales were affected by an industrial dispute at the manufacturing plant. [13]
Davis left Decca in April 1971 after a stay of eight years. [14] She continued to record into the 1980s and was popular, in particular, with audiences in the Spanish-speaking world. [15] Her cover of Burt Bacharach's "The Last One to Be Loved" appeared on the compilation album Trains & Boats & Covers (1999). [3] A retrospective collection of her recordings for Decca was released in 2005. [16]
In 2006, she was re-united with Jet Harris for a series for concerts.
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(April 2021) |
Billie has lived in North London for most of her life and career. Billie had two children: her son born in 1972, was a DJ, who died in 2014. Her daughter, born 1982, is an artist, designer and milliner.
Bertrand Russell Berns, also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include "Twist and Shout", "Piece of My Heart", "Here Comes the Night", "Hang on Sloopy", "Cry to Me" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", and his productions include "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Under the Boardwalk".
The Applejacks were an English beat group of the 1960s. They were the first "Brumbeat" group to reach the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, and were unusual for having a female bass guitarist, Megan Davies.
Sheldon Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others.
Carter-Lewis and the Southerners were an early-1960s rock band, formed by the Birmingham-born musicians Ken Lewis and John Carter.
Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan was a founder member of the British group the Drifters with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which evolved into the Shadows. He played drums on early Cliff Richard and the Shadows hits and on early Shadows' instrumentals.
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics.
The Remo Four were a 1950s–1960s rock band from Liverpool, England. They were contemporaries of The Beatles, and later had the same manager, Brian Epstein. Its members were Colin Manley, Phil Rogers, Don Andrew, and Roy Dyke (drums). Andrew and Manley were in the same class at school as Paul McCartney.
The Sorrows are a rock band formed in 1963 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, by Pip Whitcher, and were part of the British beat boom of the 1960s. They were a fixture in the English mod scene and are sometimes referred to as freakbeat.
Heinz Burt was a German-born British rock and roll bassist and singer who performed under the stage name Heinz. He was also known as a member of the instrumental group the Tornados.
Leslie David Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.
"Tell Him", originally "Tell Her", is a 1962 song that was written and composed by Bert Berns, who, when he did so, used the pen name of Bert Russell, and which was popularized through its recording by the Exciters. The song was recorded as "Tell Her" by Dean Parrish in 1966, and Kenny Loggins in 1989. Billboard named the Exciters version at No. 95 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. According to Jason Ankeny at AllMusic, the Exciters' version of "Tell Him" "...boasted an intensity that signified a sea change in the presentation and perception of femininity in popular music, paving the way for such tough, sexy acts as the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes."
Anita Madeleine Harris is an English actress, singer and entertainer.
The Rockin' Berries are a beat group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.
Alan Charles Klein is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He wrote the soundtrack for the stage play and film, What a Crazy World (1963). In 1964, he released his only solo album, Well at Least It's British, that was re-released in 2008 by RPM Records.
Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band are an England-based soul band.
The Brook Brothers were an English pop duo composed of Geoff Brook and Ricky Brook.
The Montanas were an English 1960s and 1970s pop rock band from Wolverhampton, England. Though they never found significant success in their home country, they had one moderate hit in the United States.
"I Want You to Be My Baby" is a jump blues song written by Jon Hendricks for Louis Jordan whose recording, made on May 28, 1953, was released that autumn.
Beryl Marsden is a British R&B and pop singer, who first came to notice on the Liverpool club scene of the early 1960s. She recorded a number of "powerful and soulful", but unsuccessful, records, and has been described as "undeservedly neglected".
Jimmy Powell was a British soul and rhythm and blues singer who recorded and performed throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, and is best remembered as the lead singer of Jimmy Powell and the 5 Dimensions, a group that briefly included Rod Stewart.
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