Billy Davis Jr ( Part 3)

 Recording and Advertising Executive Extraordinaire.

    

 

   

               He was one of the key architects in the development of the soul music we so love today!

The second stage of his creative career made him a very important figure in the advertising industry around the globe. On the strength of the gold record “Rescue Me” and other major hit records on Chess, Billy caught the attention of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency in New York. They made him an offer he could not refuse and so in 1969 the agency hired him as jingles songwriter. Davis first major assignment at the agency was to help Coca-Cola develop an international brand across all the markets where the company was trading, based on the old advertising campaign slogan “It’s the Real Thing”.

Davis was assigned to create several songs with songwriter Roger Cook and creative director Billy Backer, who was responsible for The Coca-Cola Company account. The actual recording session occurred in London, England, with the New Seekers, a British recording group. Out of the studio session a song was born that would impact people around the global for generations and established Coca-Cola as a major leader in the soft drink market for a long period. The song was titled “I’d Like to Buy The World a Coke and Keep it Company”.

With his creative skills, he was able plant into people’s subconscious minds a song that was easy to remember and enjoyable to listen to, with a special appeal to young people, which helped to increase sales levels for Coca-Cola international. The basic message of the ad was that Coca-Cola had a strong bond helping people to connect to each other regardless of race or colour. 

 The advertising campaign became so successful that it appeared in a variety of languages to match the ever-increasing global demand. Davis rewrote the song as “I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”, as recorded by the Hillside Singers and the New Seekers. The single version performed by the New Seekers entered the American Pop chart in the top ten listing and achieved platinum level sales for over two million plus copies sold. According to many surveys conducted in the  United States, this commercial was the best of all time and the sheet music continues to sell thirty years after it was originally recorded and written.

Other successful jingles followed: “It's The Real Thing”, “Have a Coke and a Smile”, “Coke Is It” and “Things Go Better with Coke”. Other ads were created for Nescafé, Miller Beers, Sony and Nabisco. The Miller Beers’ popular jingle was; “If You’ve Got the Time”, which was also a successful advertising campaign in North America.

Before Davis retired from the advertising industry, he achieved the position of senior vice-president and musical director at McCann-Erickson and became one of the most successful black executives in the world of advertising. Davis’s song writing approach to jingles, completely revolutionized the advertising industry and brought products into our subconscious minds, creating brand images that spread globally regardless of race and culture. Billy Davis stated in an interview published in the Detroit Free Press on 24^th April 1983:

            “Using music in a commercial is a great aid to recall. It will help you remember the commercial and the product. Music allows you to add emotional content.”

                          Researched and compiled by
                          Mr K Tomlin Music Historian  
                          ©RCM Music/Signaturesoundsonline 2013
 


Billy Davis ( Part 2 )

  Recording and Advertising Executive Extraordinaire.

                                              

            He was one of the key architects in the development of the soul music we so love today!

Davis Jr decided to move to Chicago in 1962 in search of greener pastures where he could further develop the creative skills he had acquired while working in the Detroit Soul scene during the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

 

In a typically brilliant move, Leonard Chess, with a growing interest in the Soul market which was dominated mainly by Motown and Stax at the time and well aware of the strength of Billy Davis’s previous success with Berry Gordy, decided to offer him a contract to develop a strong R&B division at Chess, in line with Motown and Stax.

 

With Davis present in the creative role as producer, songwriter and arranger in the Chess organisation, the opportunity arose to create a more soulful sound and to move the label away from the Blues-dominated sound of the label up to then. He persuaded Leonard Chess to hire musicians with a Jazz background and arrangers for long term session work. Maurice White once said about Billy:

“He taught me how to break down a song and build it up again”.

 

 

 

 

Maurice White

The co-founder and musical architect of Earth, Wind &  Fire    

                         

 

The knowledge White obtained from Davis during recording sessions was the foundation that helped him become a formidable band leader, record producer, record label owner and songwriter.

The production skills Davis developed whilst working with Berry Gordy’s sister Gwen Gordy’s Anna label in Detroit can be heard on such classic tracks as “All I Could Do Was Cry” by Etta James, “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass and on many other tracks. On “Rescue Me”, which was produced live in the studio, you can hear the Motown influence, but with a Chicago soul sound put into the mix. Billy Davis spent seven years at Chess and also held the position of repertoire director.

Davis Jr greatest achievement was to produced the first and only number-one R&B and Soul hit on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart for a female artist at Chess  Records The single “Rescue Me”, recorded by Fontella Bass, which arrived at the R&B summit on the 30^th October 1965. “Rescue Me” typified the new Chess: built on a bed-rock of Satterfield’s bass and White’s drums, powered by Gene Barge’s horn section, and propelled by the call-and-response of singer and background vocalists.

This record became a hit in several major Europe markets including the UK. You can hear this single on movie soundtracks and it has been used in marketing campaigns across the USA and in Europe.


Researched and compiled by
 Mr K Tomlin Music Historian  
©RCM Music/Signaturesoundsonline 2013