Paul Davis--I Go Crazy (1977)

     Paul Davis was born in, and died in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi in 2008. In between was two decades of steady, if not underrated work.
     He began in the mid 60's with a couple of local groups before getting a gig as a writer for Malaco Records out of Jackson, Mississippi in 1968. Just a year later he was signed to a recording contract with Bang Records, where he would spend all of the 70's.
     His first time on the charts was in April of 1970 with a remake of The Jamels' hit, "A Little Bit of Soap". He had two more songs that found mild success until his first top 40 hit, "Ride 'Em Cowboy" in 1974. The big hit for him that decade though was, "I Go Crazy". The song he is probably best known for was, "65' Love Affair", which gets a lot of airplay today. But this "I Go Crazy" sneaks up on you with his underrated (but excellent) keyboard work, just like it did in August of 1977 when it was released. In fact, the song held a record, at the time, of being on the top 100 the most weeks (non-consecutive) with 40!
     He had other top 20 hits with, "Sweet Life", "Do Right", and "Cool Night" beside the others mentioned. In the mid-80's he switched focus to country music and had a couple of number 1 songs with Tanya Tucker, and Marie Osmond. He also wrote a couple of number 1's for his friend Dan Seals. He continued to write, and produce over the two decades before his death, the day after his 60th birthday.