Died On This Date (May 5, 1972) Reverend Gary Davis / Peidmont Blues Great
themusicsover Reverend Gary Davis
April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972
He started his career as Blind Gary Davis, but in the late ’20s, he became an ordained Baptist minister and would forever be known as the Reverend Gary Davis. Davis was born in South Carolina and became blind at a young age. He learned to play the guitar as a child and developed a unique picking style using his thumb and index finger. In the mid ’20s, he moved to Durham, North Carolina where he became a fixture of the Peidmont Blues scene. After he became a minister, Davis focused more on gospel than blues music. Davis was also a popular guitar teacher, most likely due to his gentle and patient personality. Davis found his music back in vogue during the folk revival of the ’60s. He died after suffering a heart attack on his way to a show.
What You Should Own
Bob Mercer is perhaps best remembered as the music industry veteran who helmed the wildly successful Now That’s What I Call Music! hit compilation series. But to many of those with whom he worked, he was above all, a beloved mentor and motivator. Since the Now series debuted in the United States in 1998, it has sold in the neighborhood of 77 million units combined. What was fairly unique about the series at the time, at least in the US, was that the CDs collected the biggest current dor recent hits of the day, in a partnership with the major labels. To many, the series would be a flop, but of course they were proven wrong over and over again. During his career, Mercer also held executive positions at EMI UK (where he signed the Sex Pistols, Queen, and T. Rex to name a few), PolyGram’s TV division, and New Door Records. Bob Mercer was 65 when he died of lung cancer on May 5, 2010.
Willie Pooch was a popular Columbus, Ohio area blues singer who began his career in gospel groups while still just a child in and around Tupelo, Mississippi. During his teens, he and his family moved to Chicago where Pooch fell under the tutelage of 