Born on January 19: Martha Davis, the Motels' singer's troubled life

The singer was born in Berkeley in 1951, and her life has been far from tranquil...

Although the California sunshine cradled her childhood, Martha Davis' entry into adulthood was far from auspicious. It began far too early, in fact, as her childhood friend got her pregnant at the age of 15, and then enlisted in the army. Victor Hugo could have chosen her as his heroine!

When her boyfriend decided to go and fight in Vietnam (where he was killed), they separated  and, now the mother of a second daughter, Martha returned to Berkeley at the height of the flower power boom. You can only dream of something better when you're not yet 20. At least, their turbulent relationship enabled her to write “Celia”, a chilling description of an obviously toxic relationship. 

The young single mother soon lost both her parents, her mother to suicide and her father to illness a few years later. Most of us would probably have sunk into some form of depression and given up on any kind of dream. But not Martha Davis! Now lead singer of a band called The Warfield Foxes, later renamed The Motels, she was determined to make the sacrifices necessary to finally break out of anonymity. Her unmistakable voice, her songwriting talent and her delicate rhythm guitar playing enabled The Motels to sign a contract with Capitol Records in 1979. Their eponymous debut album featured at least two major tracks written by Martha: “Total Control”, hemmed in by a saxophone solo, and the highly personal “Celia”. “Careful”, the second album, was released a year later, and ‘Danger’ shines with particular brilliance. Each of the following albums contains a little gem. Only The Lonely”, their biggest hit, on ‘All Four One’ (1982) and also ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ on ‘Little Robbers’ (1983) proved that Martha still had a sharp sense of songwriting, but their album ‘Shock’ (1984) was too uncommercial and threw them out into the street. The end of a chapter.

Of course, it took more than that to discourage Martha. After a decade-long solo interlude, without much success, The Motels reformed under Martha's leadership in 2007. Four albums were released, including “Last Few Beautiful Days” in 2018, which could have been a fitting end to a career spanning four decades. But that was not to be, and today, aged 74, Martha and her Motels continue to perform regularly, mainly on the West Coast of the United States.

Netflix could certainly find material for an interesting biopic in her dented life!
  
(Stéphane Soupart - Tr.: MH - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Martha Davis with The Motels on stage at the Beurschouwburg in Brussels (Belgium) on November 5, 1980.