Robert Bunyan Davie III (August 4, 1930 – April 7, 2020), professionally known as Hutch Davie, or Bob "Hutch" Davie, and sometimes credited as Bun Davie, Budd McCoy, Clint Harmon or Chuck Harmon, was an American orchestra leader, arranger, pianist, and composer of popular music. He composed the song "Green Door", and led the orchestra which backed Jim Lowe on the best-selling version of the song in 1956.
Early life and education
Davie was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Bunyan Davie Jr. and Louise McCoy. He was a musical prodigy and taught himself to play the piano by the age of four. He had perfect pitch and expressed his distaste for music that was not in tune while still too young to articulate what was wrong with it. At the age of five he started attending the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. After high school, he attended Louisiana State University but refused to comply with a sports requirement and dropped out after a year.
Career
He moved to New York City and started working for NBC at the age of 20. He married a model, Mary Elizabeth Pfaff, and entered the music business. His first big success was the song "Green Door" in 1956, which he composed and arranged, and on which he played piano. The record achieved BMI Million-air status (a million radio and television performances in the United States). In 1958 Davie had a No. 51 chart hit, as "Hutch Davie and his Honky Tonkers", with his version of Woody Herman's "Woodchopper's Ball". As a pianist he recorded jazz standards with the Honky Tonkers, and an album featuring his solo playing, Piano Memories, was also issued in 1958. In 1959, with record producer Bob Crewe, Davie arranged Santo & Johnny's instrumental hit "Sleep Walk".
He produced and arranged Linda Scott's three big hits on Canadian-American Records: "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star", "Don't Bet Money Honey", and "I Don't Know Why". He also 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, a subsidiary of Canadian-American. As a songwriter, record producer and director of A&R, he also worked with such artists as Shirley Ellis, Patty Duke, Lesley Gore, Ellie Greenwich, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He was the arranger on the original Bob Crewe Generation hit recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" in 1967, for which he was nominated for a Grammy. He also worked with Oliver on the songs "Good Morning Starshine" and "Jean", The Shirelles, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, among many others.
In 1974, he moved to Scotch Plains, New Jersey, with his wife and son.
Davie died on April 7, 2020, in West Orange, New Jersey, at age 89.
Works
1956
"By You, By You, By You," Jim Lowe with the Bob Davie Piano and Orchestra (Davie - Marvin Moore) "Corn Poem," Bob Davie (Davie) "Dixieland Roll," Martha Carson (Davie - Grean) "The Green Door," Jim Lowe with The High Fives (Davie - Moore) "Honestly, Honestly," The Gayden Sisters (March 1956) "I Feel The Beat," Jim Lowe with the Bob Davie Piano and Orchestra (Davie - Moore) "(I Wish I Had A Dog Like) Rin Tin Tin," The Sandpipers (Davie - Grean) "Just Love Me," Jaye P. Morgan (Davie - Moore) "Moon Pearls," Bob Davie (Davie) "(The Story Of) The Little Man In Chinatown," Jim Lowe with The High Fives (Davie) (B side of "The Green Door")
1957
"Billy Boy, Billy Boy," Janis Martin (Davie - Moore) "The Bright Light," Jim Lowe with the Bob Davie Orchestra (Moore - Davie) "Highway!," (1957) with Marvin Moore "I Ain’t Goin’ There No More," David Houston (Davie - Moore) "I Don't Love You No More" (1957) with Marvin Moore "Love And Kisses," Janis Martin (Moore - Davie - Grean) "A Million Teardrops," The Bachelors (Miller - Davie) "My Confession," Janis Martin (Moore - Davie - Grean) "Oh-Oh-Baby!," Jim Lowe (Davie - Moore) "Piano Roll Pete," Jim Lowe (Davie - Moore) "Puppet In Paris," Bob Davie and his Orchestra (Davie - Moore) "Rock And Roll Rhapsody," Pat O'Day (Davie - Moore) "Rooftops Of Rome," Bob Davie, His Orchestra and Chorus (Davie - Moore) "Slow Train," Jim Lowe (Davie - Moore) "The Song You Heard When You Fell In Love," Betty Johnson (Davie - Moore) "That Kind Of Love," Bob Lee (Davie - Moore) "What's Behind That Strange Door," Mitchell Torok (Moore - Davie - Reid) "Why Did You Break My Heart?," Ted Newman (Davie - Moore)