Hutch Davie

Early life and education

Davie was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Bunyan Davie Jr. and Louise McCoy. A musical prodigy, he taught himself piano by age four and had perfect pitch. He attended the Birmingham Conservatory of Music from age five. After high school, he enrolled at Louisiana State University but left after a year due to a sports requirement he refused to meet.

Career

Davie moved to New York City and began working for NBC at age 20. He married model Mary Elizabeth Pfaff and entered the music business. His first major success was composing and arranging "Green Door" in 1956, on which he played piano; the record achieved BMI Million-air status. In 1958, as Hutch Davie and his Honky Tonkers, he had a No. 51 chart hit with "Woodchopper's Ball".

That year he also released the solo piano album Piano Memories. In 1959, with producer Bob Crewe, he arranged Santo & Johnny's instrumental hit "Sleep Walk". He produced and arranged Linda Scott's three hits on Canadian-American Records, and produced and arranged the Angels' "Till" and "Cry Baby Cry" and James Ray's "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" on Caprice Records. As a songwriter, producer, and A&R director, he worked with Shirley Ellis, Patty Duke, Lesley Gore, Ellie Greenwich, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

He arranged the Bob Crewe Generation recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" in 1967, earning a Grammy nomination. He also worked with Oliver, The Shirelles, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. In 1974, he moved to Scotch Plains, New Jersey, with his wife and son. He died on April 7, 2020, in West Orange, New Jersey, at age 89.