A Conversation in the Dressing Room with John Davidson

by Jacqueline Lehatto

Go ahead, ask John Davidson to memorize a 60-page script. Ask him to sing five songs from 1975, or where he will appear next on his packed schedule of performances or who he sang a duet with on a long-ago television variety show.

He knows it all.

Just don’t ask him where his keys are.

“I have a song about it in my nightclub act,” Davidson said with a big laugh. “I sing about looking for my wallet and my keys. I also have a song, ‘60 Sucks.’” He can laugh because life is good for the perennially handsome Davidson, age 68. He and his wife of 27 years, Rhonda, live a life on the go from Broadway and regional dinner theatre to cruise ships and nightclubs. Davidson entertains, Rhonda keeps the books.

And when they can, they go home to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Relaxing there includes some entertaining, especially for approximately 8,000 “expats” who also call San Miguel home and who remember their neighbor from his many television shows and recordings.“Like us,” Davidson said, “they are all struggling with Spanish and are a little odd.”

Learning Spanish lyrics adds to Davidson’s repertoire. This grandfather of four said he has probably thousands of songs in his head. He puts that internal jukebox to work during his club acts. Riffing on “That Wonderful Year” segment of the old “Gary Moore Show,” he goes out in the audience, asks a couple when they met and then sings three or four songs from that year. He relies on his memory. His band, however, has to shuffle through a large binder of sheet music to keep up.

Davidson has the years 1940 to 1986 covered. But how about youngsters in the audience who met, say, in 1988? “I make a joke about it and do a very bad rap song,” he said, again with a laugh.

Davidson doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon. “I love performing on stage,” he said. “Seventy will be even better.”