Martha Davis

Martha Emily Davis (born January 19, 1951) is an American rock and new wave singer-songwriter from Berkeley, California. She is most famous for being the lead singer of the band the Motels, but has also made several solo albums, contributed many songs to motion pictures, been on television, and worked onstage with Teatro ZinZanni.

Early life

Martha Emily Davis was born on January 19, 1951, in Berkeley, California. She was the second child. Her parents had adopted older sister Janet.

At the age of 15, upon discovering that she was pregnant, Davis dropped out during her freshman year of high school. She entered into a hasty marriage with the child's father, Ronnie Paschell, a 17-year-old whom she had been dating since the age of 12. Paschell enlisted in the U.S. Air Force shortly after the nuptials.

When Davis was 19, her mother (who had been divorced from Davis' father) died by suicide. Following her mother's death, Davis' father encouraged his daughter to attend vocational school. However, upon discovering her late mother's diary, Davis learned that her mother—a UC Berkeley English major who once belonged to Phi Beta Kappa—had aspired to be an author but had given up on her dreams to fulfill her domestic role. Davis theorized that "My mother became the wife she thought my father wanted her to be...It was a brutal and lonely lesson when she died, but I learned from her not to give myself up." Davis purchased a home using an inheritance left by her mother and survived as a single mother on welfare. It was at this time that Davis turned toward a musical career. Although Davis has been credited as being a founder, she was actually invited to sing for the band by her friend Lisa Brenneis. As a single mother, Davis would often bring her daughters with her to rehearsals. The group's name slowly morphed into the Motels after being inspired by the motor inns that they passed along Santa Monica Boulevard. However, the band encountered mixed success as it was a prerequisite that a band had to belong to a label in order for them to perform at music venues. On May 12, 1979, the Motels finally signed with Capitol Records, and the group's first album Motels (1979; produced by John Carter) was released in the fall of the same year.

1980–1990 The 1980s was pivotal not only for Davis' rising musical success, but also for her health crisis. She battled breast cancer in 1984 and received surgical treatment for it.

The Motels' second album Careful (1980), also produced by Carter, was released on June 15, 1980. As Davis said about the success following the song "Only the Lonely": "Even with that song it was the first time we had a hit, it definitely was not what I was envisioning for myself and then as time goes on, you get a hit so they say, 'Oh, I guess this is working, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing', it became more and more in that direction MOR [middle of the road]."Around the time, Davis had stated in interviews that she often invested her own money into the band.

1990–2000 The early 1990s marked the end of Davis' engagement to a saxophone player with whom she became involved during the creation of her Policy album. In addition to working with artists such as Clarence Clemons, Charlie Sexton and Kenny G, Davis also played sporadic performances to showcase her original material. By the decade's end, Davis was once again writing songs regularly and even created a new incarnation of the Motels.

2000–present In 2001, Davis and the Motels' new lineup appeared on the television show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time. She made her first solo album in seventeen years titled So The Story Goes and in 2005 joined Teatro ZinZanni for a two-month run in Seattle. She wrote music and helped create an album for this show. In 2007, Davis and the band appeared on the Australian concert series Countdown Spectacular 2. She released two other albums with the Motels, and in 2010, Davis created her first album for children titled Red Frog Presents 16 Songs For Parents and Children. In 2018, Davis released the album The Last Few Beautiful Days.

Personal life Davis' children include daughters Maria and Patricia. In 1982, Davis adopted son Phil from her sister Janet. Her eldest daughter Maria died in 2016 after battling an opioid addiction. Maria's death inspired many of the songs on The Last Few Beautiful Days album.

Discography

With The Motels: Motels (1979) Careful (1980) All Four One (1982) Little Robbers (1983) Shock (1985) This (2008) Apocalypso (2011) If Not Now Then When (2017) The Last Few Beautiful Days (2018)

Solo: Policy (1987) ...So the Story Goes (2004) Beautiful Life (2008) Red Frog Presents: 16 Songs for Parents and Children (2010) I Have My Standards (2020) DAS7 with Eric Allaman and Reinhard Scheuregger (2021)