Clay Davidson (born April 4, 1971) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artist. He signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

' Nashville division in late 1999. Davidson released his debut album '' Unconditional'' on April 11, 2000. Its title track was a top 5 hit for him on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country charts, and the album produced two more Top 30 hits. Davidson was later transferred to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

Nashville after Virgin Nashville's lineup was merged into Capitol, although he did not record anything for Capitol and was soon dropped. To date, ''Unconditional'' remains his only studio album.

Biography

Clay Davidson was born in

Saltville, Virginia Saltville is a town in Smyth and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,077 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a compone ...

to a musical family. He moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

in search of a record deal. allmusic ((( Clay Davidson > Biography )))/ref> While in Nashville, Davidson won

Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit " The ...

' Talent Round-Up show in 1995. Davidson and his wife later moved to Tennessee, and Davidson soon became a demo singer for other artists. Davidson was later called in to substitute for Michael McDonald at a party for rock artist

Jude Cole Jude Anthony Cole (born June 18, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, manager, and record producer. After signing to Reprise Records, Cole's solo career began with his eponymous debut studio album in 1987, which was followed up 4 subsequen ...

. While at the party, Cole recommended Davidson to

Scott Hendricks Scott Hendricks (born July 26, 1956) is an American record producer who has produced over 30 country music artists. His productions have garnered 121 Top 10s, and 78 Number One hits. Between 1995 and 1997, he was President and Chief Executive Off ...

, who had just started the

Nashville label. Davidson's first album, ''Unconditional'', was released in 2000, producing three hit singles on the country music charts. In early 2001, Virgin Records announced that it would be closing its Virgin Nashville branch. Virgin's artist roster was transferred to

Capitol Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returnin ...

. Davidson, however, did not record any albums or singles during his tenure on Capitol. On July 20, 2001, Davidson and his touring band were involved in a bus accident outside

Effingham, Illinois Effingham is a city in and the county seat of Effingham County, Illinois, United States. It is in South Central Illinois. Its population was 12,252 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Effingham, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. The c ...

. He and his bandmates suffered only minor cuts and bruises, but several concerts had to be canceled.CMT.com : Clay Davidson : Clay Davidson on the Mend
/ref>

Discography

Albums

Singles

;Notes *A ^ "Unconditional" also peaked at number 9 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Clay 1971 births Living people American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Virginia People from Saltville, Virginia Virgin Records artists Country musicians from Virginia 21st-century American singers