22 Years Ago Today, A Country Singer Died Who Paved The Way For Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn
Known for hits like “The End of the World” and the Carole King-penned “I Can’t Stay Mad at You”, Skeeter Davis was a country singer who paved the way for women like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.
On September 19, 2004, Davis passed away after a battle with breast cancer. She left a legacy as the first woman to achieve major stardom in the world of country music, paving the way for icons like Parton as well as modern artists like Lainey Wilson and Kacey Musgraves.
Born Mary Frances Penick, she began her career as a teenager in the late 1940s as a member of the Davis Sisters with her friend Betty Jack Davis. They performed together for over a decade, and are considered one of the first female country groups.
In 1953, after a performance in Virginia, the band was involved in a head-on collision that killed Betty Jack and left Skeeter with serious head injuries. Betty Jack’s younger sister Georgia replaced her in the group until they split up in 1956.
Skeeter Davis would find success as a solo singer in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1960 to 1962, Davis had top-10 hits with the songs “(I Can’t Help You) I’m Falling Too”, “My Last Date (With You)”, “Where I Ought to Be”, and “Optimistic”.
Davis’ biggest hit came in 1963, with her crossover country-pop song “The End of the World.” It made the singer one of the few white female singers to land a hit on the R&B charts at the time.
She followed the success of “The End of the World” with the Gerry Goffin and Carole King-penned “I Can’t Stay Mad at You”, and the Grammy-nominated “He Says the Same Things to Me”.
She would carry on her success as a solo artist throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Her career would come under fire in 1973, when she dedicated a song during her 1973 Grand Ole Opry performance to a group of church youth workers who were arrested for evangelizing at a local mall. The Opry suspended her until receiving complaints, but the experience encouraged Davis to become more active in religious communities.
In August 1988, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and, after surgery, was in remission for several years before having a recurrence in 1996. In 2001, she announced the cancer had metastasized and passed away at age 72 in Nashville.
source https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/22-years-ago-today-a-country-singer-died-who-paved-the-way-for-dolly-parton-and-loretta-lynn
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