Davis, Chip (5th September 1947-Present)

He is a composer and musician born Louis F. Davis in Hamler, Ohio, to a family where his father had been a clarinet player and music teacher and his mother a trombonist, who was raised in Ohio in both Portland and Sylvania. His father had been a clarinet player and he started to learn to play the piano when he was 4 years old and by the time he was six he had already written his first composition. He also sang in church and all-boy choirs. He studied bassoon and percussion at the University of Michigan School of Music and while there followed in his father’s footsteps as a member of the University of Michigan Band, where he played the cymbals. He also sang in the University Musical Society’s Choir Union and went to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s annual May Festival performances.

After leaving his education in Michigan in 1969 he became a touring member of the Norman Luboff Choir before leaving after five years to become a music teacher, conductor and arranger. He then went to work for Bozell & Jacobs Inc. who were an advertising agency who often did spots for William Dale Fries Jr who went under the pseudonym of C.W. McCall as a fictional character who was a commercial truck driver.

His work with C.W. McCall saw them writing various songs for advertisements and they decided to follow that by writing other songs, which included “Convoy” which was recorded in 1975 became and international hit and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1976 as well as in Australia, Canada and New Zealand and No.2 in the UK. They ended up releasing 5 albums together.

In 1974 he was also working with the pianist and singer Jackson Berkey on music which was a fusion of classical and modern music. This led to the formation of the ensemble Mannheim Steamroller, which he initially used as his alias. They couldn’t find any record labels that were willing to take them on so he decided to star American Gramaphone and released the material himself.

Mannheim Steamroller have released many albums, beginning with the Fresh Aire series, which ended up with 8 being recorded by 2000. In between these recordings it released Christmas albums, with classic carols done in their own style as well as the addition of several new compositions. The group has now become one of the best selling artists for holiday recordings in the US and for more then 35 years has staged an annual Christmas concert tour and he also hosts An American Christmas radio broadcast which is a 24-hour music and story program.

In the 1990s he started to release recordings using his own name and these include the mood piece series known as Day Parts.

He has been the recipient of the 1976 SESAC Country Music of the Year during his time with William Dale Fries Jr. He has also won a Grammy Award and been awarded 19 gold, eight platinum and four multi-platinum records with Mannheim Steamroller.

Mannheim Steamroller recordings
Carol of the Birds(Traditional Catlonian)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Coventry Carol (Traditional English/Robert Croo/Thomas Mawdyke)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Deck the Halls (Welsh Traditional)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (Traditional/Emile Blemont/Marc-Antoine Charpentier/Louis-Denis Seguin)(English Translation: Edward Cuthbert Nunn)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone Records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Good King Wenceslas (John Mason Neale)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

I Saw Three Ships (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Wassail (Anonymous Middle Ages English/Ralph Vaughan Williams)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

We Three Kings (Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr.)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)

Sources:

Davis, Chip (5th September 1947-Present)

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