Billy Davis (songwriter)
| Billy Davis | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Roquel Davis |
| Also known as | Tyran Carlo |
| Born | July 11, 1932 |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 2004 (aged 72) New Rochelle, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, record producer, singer |
| Years active | 1950s-1970s |
| Labels | Anna, Chess |
Roquel "Billy" Davis (July 11, 1932 – September 2, 2004), of Detroit, was an American songwriter, record producer, and singer. Davis was also known as a writer/producer of commercial jingles, mostly for Coca-Cola. He was also known as Tyran Carlo on writing credits.
Early in his career in Detroit, Davis sang and wrote with an early version of the Four Tops called "The Four Aims", which included his cousin Lawrence Payton. In the late-1950s, he collaborated with Berry Gordy, the Motown Records founder, to write a number of hit songs for Jackie Wilson. The most notable of these was "Lonely Teardrops", written by Davis, Gordy, and Gordy's sister Gwen, who was Davis's girlfriend at the time. Davis and Gwen Gordy later founded Anna Records, which was the distributor of the early singles from Berry Gordy's newly formed Tamla label. The two also wrote "Reet Petite" for Wilson, which was a Top 10 hit for the singer in the UK and later topped the British charts in 1986 when re-released. Another success for the two was Marv Johnson's major hit in 1959, "You Got What It Takes" (#2 R&B, #10 pop), as the two continued to work together.
In the early 1960s, Davis left Detroit and moved to Chess Records in Chicago, after being persuaded by label owner, Leonard Chess to take charge of the A&R and creative departments, bringing in and supervising in-house songwriters, arrangers and producers, who were aiming now at the soul and crossover pop markets. During this period, he wrote and produced for many artists, including Etta James, The Dells, Billy Stewart, Little Milton, Jackie Ross, Mitty Collier and Fontella Bass, whose 1965 single, "Rescue Me" was Davis' biggest hit (#1 R&B, #4 pop).
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