Jimmie Davis
Songwriter
Jimmie Davis was a country and gospel singer-songwriter, two-term governor of Louisiana, and the writer (or co-credited writer) of “You Are My Sunshine” — the official state song of Louisiana and one of the most-recorded songs in American history. He lived to age 101, the longest-lived of any U.S. state governor at the time of his death.
- Born James Houston Davis on September 11, 1899, in Beech Springs, a rural community in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, the eldest of eleven children of sharecroppers.
- Earned a master’s degree at Louisiana State University and taught at Dodd College in Shreveport before turning to music full-time.
- “You Are My Sunshine,” copyrighted by Davis and Charles Mitchell in 1940, became a million-selling hit; its authorship is contested (Paul Rice claimed to have written it), but Davis’s recording made it a standard. Adopted as a Louisiana state song in 1977.
- Recorded prolifically across country and gospel from the 1930s into the 1960s; gospel highlights include “Suppertime,” “Someone to Care,” and the religious recording catalog that earned him a Grammy nomination.
- Elected the 47th governor of Louisiana in 1944, serving 1944–1948 and again 1960–1964, becoming known as “the singing governor.”
- Died November 5, 2000, at age 101 in Baton Rouge.
- Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1972), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1971), the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, among others — a total of six halls of fame.
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I Dreamed of an Old Love AffairCarry Me Across the Mountain (2000)
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I Hung My Head and CriedFlatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall! (1963)
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Shackles and ChainsEverybody's Country Favorites (1960)
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You Won't Be Satisfied That WayLive Duet Recordings 1963-1980 (1993)