Mannheim Steamroller keeps on rolling for the holidays

In my opinion, one of the “most interesting men” in the world of music is Midwesterner Louis F. “Chip” Davis Jr., 78, a native of tiny Hamler, Ohio, located in rural Henry County, about 40 miles southwest of Toledo.

 

You hear a lot of his music during the holiday season. Chip Davis created the incomparable Mannheim Steamroller ensemble in 1974. He ventured into performing Christmas music in 1984, and his magical ability to infuse new life into traditional Christmas tunes instantly tickled the ear of the American public.

It was an “absolute phenomenon” in the music industry, many critics acclaimed, as Chip Davis “reinvigorated traditional carols and Yuletide staples with an eclectic sonic approach.” 

Typically, the ensemble cast of 15 musicians perform with more than 20 different instruments, including oboes, bassoons, dulcimers, recorders and harpsichords.

 

Chip Davis began his musical training at age 4; both his grandmothers played piano and taught him. He composed his first piece, a four-part chorale about his dog Stormy at age 6.

Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, where Louis Davis Sr., became the high school music teacher and orchestra director.

Chip Davis had music in his genes. “I have third generation musicians on both sides of my family,” he said. “My dad was a saxophone player in a big band during the World War II era. My mother played trombone for the NBC Symphony and was a fine pianist. She was even a ‘poster girl’ for the famed music center, Interlochen (Mich.) Art Academy” near Traverse City.

By age 11, Chip was singing with the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir in Austria, and as a 16-year-old, he was playing bassoon in the Toledo Symphony.

Both of Chip Davis’s parents graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He chose to study music there as well. Since there are no bassoonists in the U-M marching band, he joined as a percussionist and played the cymbals.

 

After earning his degree in 1969, Chip Davis sang tenor with the renowned Norman Luboff Choir in Los Angeles. After a while, he decided to make a “career change,” which landed him in Omaha, Neb., writing jingles for Bozell & Jacobs, an advertising agency.

He produced about 2,000 jingles, but one client – Old Home Bread, baked by Metz Baking Company in Sioux City, Iowa – proved to be extra special. 

Chip Davis teamed with advertising executive Bill Fries to craft a series of radio and television commercials that told the story of a fictional truck driver named C.W. McCall (played by actor Jim Finlayson) and his girlfriend Mavis (played by Jean McBride Capps), a waitress at the “Fill ‘Er Up an’ Keep On a-Truckin’ Café.”

Bill Fries wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals; Chip Davis composed the musical accompaniment and put together the Old Home Band. Working together, they continued to expand their horizons and in 1975 released the single “Convoy,” which went gold in just two weeks. “Convoy” eventually sold 10 million singles and, in 1978, inspired the creation of a motion picture by the same title starring Kris Kristopherson.

 

At age 27, Chip Davis was named “Country Music Writer of the Year.” He called his Old Home Band music “techno-country,” with French horns and big-voiced backup singers.

 

By now, Chip Davis was already experimenting with Mannheim Steamroller to produce music that he labeled “18th Century classical rock.”

As the best-selling Christmas music artist in history, Chip Davis begins his annual Christmas season tour Nov. 11. Performances continue through Dec. 30. Mannheim Steamroller uses two traveling ensembles to cover the country.

 

Within North Carolina, the “Red” ensemble will perform in Wilmington on Nov. 20, Durham on Nov. 21 and Fayetteville on Nov. 22.