Skeeter Davis

Skeeter Davis was one of the first female vocalists to become a top level star in the country music field. Born Mary Frances Penick on December 30, 1931, Davis began performing in her native Kentucky as part of a duet with high school friend Betty Jack Davis in 1949. The teenagers, dubbed The Davis Sisters, quickly became a popular regional act and frequently performed on local radio.

Their fan base began to grow outside the state and the girls were signed to RCA Records in 1952. They were on tour just as their first record was being released when tragedy struck and they were in a car accident in which Betty Jack was killed and Skeeter seriously injured.

Prior to her solo career, was a member of the country duo the Davis Sisters with Betty Jack Davis; the two were not related. The duo broke up when Betty was killed in a car accident August 2, 1953; Skeeter was seriously injured in that crash. Their only hit together, "I Forgot More than You'll Ever Know," charted on Billboard magazine's country charts two weeks after the accident; that song spent eight weeks at No. 1. Betty was replaced in the duo by her sister, Georgia, but she and Skeeter did not have any hits together.

After she recovered Skeeter briefly attempted to revived The Davis Sisters' act with Betty's sister Georgia but ended up quitting the business in 1957.

Skeeter later had second thoughts and returned to the music industry in 1958 as a solo singer. RCA again signed her and Skeeter became an immediate success with her first solo single, "Lost To A Geisha Girl" which was a top 15 record and the first of many hits for her over the next eighteen years. Skeeter Davis quickly became one of country music's biggest female stars, a major rival to Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline. Like Cline, Davis' records crossed over frequently to the pop music charts.

She became a regular on the Opry, a live radio show, in 1959, and continued to perform until 2004. In 1973, she was suspended from the show for more than a year for protesting the arrest of "Jesus freaks" in Nashville. "I felt like a child without a home," she said after her reinstatement.

Skeeter's 1963 release "The End of the World" was a multi-chart number one international smash for her and remains one of the best remembered pop songs of the era.

Davis' major hits began to become less frequent by the early 1970's but she remained a regular chart presence up to 1976.

During the 1980's and 1990's she widely toured internationally as her records continued to sell in many foreign markets.

Release of her book, "Bus Fare to Kentucky: The Autobiography of Skeeter Davis". [1993]