Bonnie Davis

Bonnie Davis (born Gertrude Melba Smith; June 10, 1920 – August 1976) was an American R&B singer. Her song "Don't Stop Now" reached number one on the R&B chart in 1943. She was the mother of singer Melba Moore.

Biography Davis was born Grtrude Melba Smith in New Orleans. Her family relocated to Bessemer, Alabama, when she was a child. At first she planned to become a school teacher. In the late 1930s she started working as a singer in New York, initially in saxophonist Teddy Hill's band. By early 1942, she had joined another band, the Piccadilly Pipers, based at the Piccadilly Club in Newark, New Jersey. The group comprised Clement Moorman (piano and vocals), Ernie Ransome (guitar and vocals), and Henry Padgette (bass).

She recorded several tracks with the trio, including "Don't Stop Now", for Herman Lubinsky, who had recently established Savoy Records. However, because of the "Petrillo Ban" which prevented union members from releasing records legitimately at the time, the release was credited to Bonnie Davis - a pseudonym for Smith - with the "Bunny Banks Trio" - a name disguising the actual musicians.

Several further records credited to Bonnie Davis (sometimes also nicknamed "The Oomph Girl") with the Bunny Banks Trio were issued by the Savoy label before, in 1945, the label reverted to using the name of the Piccadilly Pipers. The same year, Bonnie Davis and bandleader Teddy Hill had a daughter together; she was born Beatrice Hill, and later became known as singer Melba Moore. Soon after the birth, the couple separated. In 1950, Bonnie Davis and pianist Clem Moorman were married.

Davis and Moorman continued to perform together in clubs as a duo until the early 1970s, when they divorced.