Sheriff Tex Davis

Rock'n'roll manager

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

GCSEs are a pointless waste of time

A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...

Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers

For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...

Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives

Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...

Ones to watch: Aiden Grimshaw to Hey Sholay

With so much new music coming out it’s difficult to keep track of what’s out there. It’s a lucky dip...


William Douchette (Sheriff Tex Davis), music manager: born 1914; married (one son, one daughter); died Nashville, Tennessee 29 August 2007.

Many of the managers of the first rock'n'roll stars had colourful names – Lord Jim Ferguson (Bill Haley), Colonel Tom Parker (Elvis Presley), Sheriff Tex Davis (Gene Vincent) – adopted with the idea of making both themselves and their clients seem more important. The names also implied that here were men to be trusted, which was often far from the case.

Although Sheriff Tex Davis gave his full name as William Beauregard Davis, he was born William Douchette in Connecticut in 1914. He served during the Second World War, then, under the GI Bill, he attended a radio school in New York. He commentated on baseball at WLOW in Norfolk, Virginia; when the season was over, the station asked him to present a country music programme. He thought it was fitting that a sheriff should be playing western records and began calling himself Sheriff Tex Davis. By 1955, he had moved to WCMS and was hosting talent contests.

In February 1956, Elvis Presley performed at Monticello Auditorium in Norfolk, Virginia. The former US Navy boilerman Gene Vincent was captivated with the performance and despite being on crutches as the result of a motorcycle accident, he won Davis's next talent contest with his version of Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel".

In April 1956, Davis sent a tape to an executive at Capitol Records, Ken Nelson, who was searching for his own Presley. Nelson invited Vincent and some local musicians to Nashville, Tennessee. Following Presley's lead, Nelson used an echo chamber and it was employed to its full extent on Vincent's hit "Be Bop a Lula".

How the song came to be written is a mystery but it seems that Vincent wrote the song with a fellow patient in hospital, Donald Graves. Davis secured Graves's rights to the song, probably for $25. The record became an international hit and there are hundreds of cover versions including the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Richard, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Davis left WCMS to manage Vincent and put his name on several more of Vincent's compositions, including "Race With the Devil", "Who Slapped John" and "Important Words". Vincent was a troublesome and troubled performer, however, constantly suffering from his leg injury and feeling he was being exploited. Things came to a head in November 1956 when he was booked into the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas and the engagement was cut short. Davis had had enough, but excused Vincent's shortcomings: "The boy was always in pain. He had to see a doctor in every town."

Davis then spent several years in charge of promotion at Monument records. While he was there, Vincent, down on his luck, asked about a record deal, but nothing came of it.

Spencer Leigh

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated
A right royal trip down the river

A right royal trip down the river

A new exhibition celebrates the glory days of London's mighty Thames
The 10 Best lawn mowers

The 10 Best lawn mowers

From petrol-fuelled to self-propelled
Every second counts

Why does life appear to speed up as we get older?

Matilda Battersby finds out how the clock plays tricks with our minds
Couture on the Croisette: Fashion hits

Couture on the Croisette

The best outfits from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Child of the revolution: the Burmese family that democracy brought back together

Home of the free

The Burmese family that democracy brought back together
Cannes review: Canine accolade and Hitler's return are high spots amid the gloom

Cannes review

Frocks, canine accolade and Hitler's return
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?

The going price of getting away with murder

Robert Fisk: The long view
Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Andy McSmith meets Dennis Skinner
Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show