Rhonda Davis

Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, November 13, 1948, Rhonda Davis was the second eldest of nine children. Her mother, Mattie C. Williams, was a Pentecostal minister and led the family singing group The Williams Singers. Mattie, a natural promoter, wrote the song "God is My Refuge" in 1962 for Rhonda to perform in churches around the Kansas City area and promote to Duke / Peacock Records in Houston, being the premier gospel label at the time. A demo album was recorded to two-track at the Leavenworth Pentecostal Church and the LP was cut at Damon Recording Studios in Kansas City in April 1964. Peacock released "God is My Refuge" and "He Watches Me" as a single, billing Rhonda as a 15-year-old gospel prodigy. The songs also found placement on several gospel compilations of the era on Songbird and MCA Records. In late 1965, she relocated to the Bay Area of California and away from her strong-willed mother. In 1967, Peacock released a second single "My Redeemer" / "That's Alright" without Rhonda Davis' knowledge and post-production instrumentation and backing group. In 1970, Rhonda began entertaining the idea of performing secular music and joined a regular gig at Al's House Smiles with Eugene Blacknell. She later joined Jules Broussard's band at the Off-Plaza Club in San Francisco. It was during this time in early 1972 that she was put in touch with Duke Records to cut the "Can You Remember" / "Long Walk on a Short Pier" single with the Eugene Blacknell's Band as the backing group. In 1974 after ABC / Paramount had received control of the Duke / Peacock catalog, a four-artist gospel album "Four Women in Christ" was released with four Rhonda Davis recordings on it. Tired of the San Francisco scene, she moved to Philadelphia and started a jazz-rock trio called The Mean Prescription. It was in Philadelphia that she suffered a near-fatal car accident that left her with physical injuries and temporary amnesia. After recovering, in 1976 she moved to Richmond, California and never returned to music again.