Meg Davis (born January 28, 1953) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

singer of traditional music. She is also a songwriter, best known for her classic ballad "Captain Jack and the Mermaid" (recorded by many world folk groups such as

De Dannan De Dannan (originally ''Dé Danann'') is an Irish folk music group. It was formed 1975 by Frankie Gavin ( fiddle), Alec Finn (guitar, bouzouki), Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh (bodhrán) and Charlie Piggott (banjo) as a result of sessions in Hughe ...

). She is known primarily as a folk musician and folklorist specializing in historical ballads as well as a composer of stories and music in the same genre as

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world musi ...

and

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started ...

Life and career

She was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, United States. Her solo performances throughout the festivals, concert halls (including the Town Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

) and cathedrals throughout the US, the UK, Ireland and at

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, have gained her a reputation as a first-rate musician and vocalist. Davis has won the respect of her fellow Irish/American musicians for her sensitive and powerful renderings of traditional Celtic songs, and sea ballads, and for her beautiful guitar accompaniment of Scottish, Irish and Breton dance tunes. She has put these talents to use as a long-standing member of the Joe Burke Trio, whose leader is the Galway

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aer ...

ist.Winick, Steve
Meg Davis Biography
,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, retrieved 2011-01-02 In addition to her regular appearances with Burke, Davis also performed and appeared on stage with such diverse musicians as

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

Alan Stivell Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a French, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specificall ...

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award ...

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

and

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". He ...

. Davis was the winner of the Best Young North American Songwriter Award in 1978, chosen and awarded the honor by Peter Yarrow, and has five albums of original music and four albums containing traditional ballads of land and sea to her credit. In 1990, she collected and arranged a collection of Scottish, Irish and original songs, entitled ''The Claddagh Walk'', which was produced by Donald Shaw of

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

and recorded in Scotland. Of her album ''Captain Jack and the Mermaid'', Richard Harrington, writing for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' remarked that it was "one of the most refreshing and brave new albums I've come across in a long time". In July 1991, ''The Washington Post'' said of Davis's performance of "Such a Parcel of Rogues" in the

National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

that "she gave a crystal clear reading in a sparkling vibrato that illuminated the whole of that sacred place". Some of her compositions have been used in film and documentaries, several songs are in use as theme songs for television shows in the Netherlands, there have been choral renditions created by choir masters in the US and UK for children's choirs. In 1993, Davis was forced to stop touring and performing before live audiences due to multiple sclerosis,

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition defined by the presence of chronic widespread pain, fatigue, waking unrefreshed, cognitive symptoms, lower abdominal pain or cramps, and depression. Other symptoms include insomnia and a general hype ...

and

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In some ...

. She continues to compose musical works and strives to return to the studio in the future. Although many a music critic has felt that Davis must be a classically trained composer, singer and guitarist she is self-taught, learning to play the guitar at the age of 12. She began songwriting at the age of 14 and taught herself to sing listening to old recordings of

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

and Frank Sinatra on her grandmother's record player. Her primary musical instruments are acoustic and electric guitars : 1960s-vintage

Martin guitars C.F. Martin & Company (often referred to as Martin) is an American guitar manufacturer established in 1833, by Christian Frederick Martin. It is highly respected for its acoustic guitars and is a leading manufacturer of flat top guitars. The ...

6 and 12 string, 1984

Taylor guitars Taylor Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, and is one of the largest manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States. They specialize in acoustic guitars and semi-hollow electric guitars. The company ...

made by Robert Taylor and a 1995

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes Paul had built a prototype solid body ...

. Her greatest musical influences have been

, Joni Mitchell,

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conce ...

and Jethro Tull.

Discography

*''Captain Jack and the Mermaid'' (1979) *''Dream Of Light Horses'' (1982) *''Swing The Cat'' (1985) *''The Music of Wonderland'' (1987) *''The Claddagh Walk'' (1990, Lismore Records, Scotland) *''By the Sword'' (1991) (All original music, lyrics and arrangements by Davis based on ''By the Sword'' by

Mercedes Lackey Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar. Her Valdemar novels include ...

) *''Live at Dennos'' (1992) *''Captain Jack and the Mermaid Special Edition'' (2000) *''The Burning West Indies'' (2004)

References

External links

Original Tripod websiteMegDavis.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Meg 1953 births Living people American folk singers Singers from Cincinnati