Songwriterobit: Paul Davis

The death has been announced of Paul Davis.

Davis' career was something of a slow-burn; he first entered the Billboard charts 1970, with a cover of A Little Bit Of Soap. That track got to 52; it would be another eight years before he cracked the top ten, with the ballad I Go Crazy. Having taken a while to make a chart impact, Davis managed to milk his moment in the spotlight: the single remained on the Billboard charts for forty weeks - at the time, a record.

Unconcerned about fame and preferring to be at home over going out touring, it was always likely that Davis would be happy to take a step back from the relentless pushing required for sustained, global success. Indeed, he had largely abandoned music by the middle of the 1980s, making only two recorded appearances after his 1981 spell at Arista. Both were collaborations, with Marie Osmond in 1986, and with Tanya Tucker and Paul Overstreet in 1988.

His friend Art Matthews told the Meridian Star that, shortly before his death, Davis had been writing music again and had recorded two tracks.

Davis had returned to Meridian, his childhood home, on his retirement; it was there that he suffered his fatal heart attack on Tuesday.