Martha Davis

Martha Emily Davis (born January 19, 1951) is an American rock and new wave singer-songwriter from Berkeley, California.

She is most famous for being the lead singer of the band The Motels, but has also made several solo albums, contributed many songs to motion pictures, been on television, and worked onstage with Teatro ZinZanni.

Martha Emily Davis was born on January 19, 1951, in Berkeley, California.

She was the second child.

Her parents had adopted older sister Janet.

Davis' father was an administrator at the University of California, Berkeley, and her mother had worked as a kindergarten teacher in Berkeley.

Growing up in a household that was both conservative and Bohemian, Davis began taking guitar and ballet lessons at the age of 8.

Davis recounted that her love of music not only came from her parents, but also from a babysitter (a law student at the time) who eventually became a renowned judge: Thelton Henderson.

At the age of 15, upon discovering that she was pregnant, Davis dropped out during her freshman year of high school.

She entered into a hasty marriage with the child's father, Ronnie Paschell, a 17-year-old whom she had been dating since the age of 12.

Paschell enlisted in the U.S. Air Force shortly after the nuptials.

The young couple then embarked on a new life at an airbase in Tampa, Florida.

Despite having a second child with Paschell, the marriage was tumultuous.

Davis would later reveal that the lyrics "I heard him talkin’ / I heard him say / He wasn't gonna kill you / He was just gonna fuck up your pretty face" from the song "Celia" were inspired by something that Paschell had said to her during their marriage.

Upon returning to Berkeley in 1968, a now 17-year-old Davis found that her hometown had changed as the counterculture was in full swing.

While Davis participated in a few sit-ins, she felt disenchanted that many of the attendees were not participating for the cause but rather for the adrenaline rush.

It was also during this time that Davis made efforts to earn her high school diploma.

Often she had to bring her daughters along while she attended classes.

When Davis was 19, her mother (who had been divorced from Davis' father) died by suicide.

Following her mother's death, Davis' father encouraged his daughter to attend vocational school.

However, upon discovering her late mother's diary, Davis learned that her mother—a UC Berkeley English major who once belonged to Phi Beta Kappa—had aspired to be an author but had given up on her dreams to fulfill her domestic role.

Davis theorized that "My mother became the wife she thought my father wanted her to be...It was a brutal and lonely lesson when she died, but I learned from her not to give myself up."

Davis purchased a home using an inheritance left by her mother and survived as a single mother on welfare.

It was at this time that Davis turned toward a musical career.

When Paschell was called to serve in Vietnam, Davis wrote him a letter stating that she was going to return to Berkeley, and the couple divorced thereafter in 1970 (Paschell later died in Quang Tri in April of 1972).

In 1971, while still residing in Berkeley, Davis joined The Warfield Foxes.

Although Davis has been credited as being a founder, she was actually invited to sing for the band by her friend Lisa Brenneis.

As a single mother, Davis would often bring her daughters with her to rehearsals.

In 1973, Davis' father died due to an illness, and she relied on older sister Janet for familial support.

By 1975, Davis had to leave behind her family and home in Berkeley so that The Warfield Foxes could try to launch their musical career in Los Angeles.

The group's name slowly morphed into The Motels after being inspired by the motor inns that they passed along Santa Monica Boulevard.

However, the band encountered mixed success as it was a prerequisite that a band had to belong to a label in order for them to perform at music venues.

The band resided in Echo Park, and Davis began her first significant romance since her marriage with bandmate Dean Chamberlain (guitarist).

Their relationship dissipated by 1977 when Chamberlain left The Motels, and Davis used the breakup as the inspiration for her song "Total Control".

After changing band members in 1978, the lineup now included Davis (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Jourard (guitarist), Marty Jourard (keyboards; saxophone), Michael Goodroe (bass) and Brian Glascock (drums).

On May 12, 1979, The Motels finally signed with Capitol Records, and the group's first album Motels (1979; produced by John Carter) was released in the fall of the same year.

The 1980s was pivotal not only for Davis' rising musical success, but also for her health crisis.

Davis reformed the group into a 1980s new wave band that created five albums produced by Capitol Records.

The Motels' second album Careful (1980), also produced by Carter, was released on June 15, 1980.

She battled breast cancer in 1984 and received surgical treatment for it.