Sammy Davis Jr.’s “adopted” son found out that he was really the love child of the Rat Pack singer. In spite of the wealth accumulated by his talented and famous father, Mark Davis still works at Costco. The younger Davis was reportedly led to believe that the Rat Packer had adopted him when he was two.
Mark Davis now says that Sammy Davis Jr. looked up from his death bed and said, “You are my son” but he did not realize the true meaning of his father’s statement at the time. It was only after Sammy Davis Jr.’s love child unearthed his birth certificate for the first time in 2013 that he realized what the “Mr. Bojangles” singer was truly relaying to him before he passed away.
“My Funny Valentine” was a track on his first album, 1955’s “Introducing Sammy Davis Jr”. The cover photograph shows Sammy Davis Jr wearing the eye-patch he needed after losing his eye.
According to Mark Davis, his birth certificate revealed that Sammy Davis Jr.’s then wife, May Britt, was his mother, but the singer’s son said the woman is not his real mother, and to this day, he has no idea about the identity of his birth mother. “I am a living question mark. I have never understood where I come from,” Davis said during an interview with the Daily Mail.
Mark Davis, 55, is reportedly “almost penniless” and works at the photo counter at a Hollywood area Costco store. Sammy Davis Jr.’s love child is a married father of two. Davis also said that he first heard the term “adopted” when reading an article Life magazine wrote about the family of Sammy Davis Jr. during the 1960s.
May Britt has reportedly told Mark Davis that she is not his biological mother, and she never learned the true identity of his birth mom. Many media reports during the Rat Pack era and afterwards claimed that Sammy Davis Jr. was a heavy drinker and had multiple affairs. Mark Davis tends to believe that he was fathered illegitimately with a “mystery white woman” during a time when interracial marriages were illegal in many states.
Mark Davis also shared that his teenage son Ryan has physical features “identical” to those of Sammy Davis Jr. and is a natural drummer just like his famous Rat Pack grandfather. He also says that those in Sammy’s inner circle have also stated that he is the singer’s biological son.
“If I am dad’s natural son, and I believe very much that could be the case, then there could have been many reasons why I was put down as adopted. Maybe it was the whole showbiz thing and the scandal it might cause or the color thing or even that my natural mother’s identity had to remain secret too,” Mark Davis said.
Sammy Davis Jr.’s love child went on to add, “Dad was very loving when I was a kid, but being adopted never made sense to me as dad and mom had a daughter Tracey, who is a year younger than me. Why would they adopt an older child after having Tracey? I don’t know about those two years. Nobody can tell me anything. Was I brought by dad from hiding after that because the heat had died down? I just don’t know,” Davis said.
May Britt and Sammy Davis Jr. also adopted anther son, Jeff, during their eight year marriage. The couple divorced in 1968 over infidelity claims with Britt and the children moving to Lake Tahoe. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
Mark Davis said that contact with Sammy Davis Jr. was minimal after the divorce. After the Rat Pack singer married former showgirl Altovise Gore in 1970, Davis said he and his siblings only got a chance to speak to him about “every two to four years.” He added, “I’d get a birthday card now and then if I was lucky and I always treasured them.”
During the 1980s, Mark Davis began drinking heavily. It took three trips to rehab for the singer’s son to get his life together. Sammy Davis Jr. then gave him a job as an assistant stage manager, and the younger Davis toured the country with his father.
“I used to watch his warm-ups and rehearsals and marvel at his genius. He was called the world’s greatest entertainer and I loved him to death. There has never been another like him. I couldn’t talk to my father because all the messages came from other people around him. He wouldn’t take phone calls, he wouldn’t return messages and he largely ignored me. It is never going to be the same between my sons and me.”
The two Davis men became estranged after Sammy Davis Jr. allegedly became interested in a girl his son was dating. The pair rarely saw each other during the final years of the singer’s life – until the conversation at the Rat Pack star’s death bed.
Just hours after Sammy Davis Jr. passed away, IRS agents reportedly arrived and seized all of his belongings to pay a $7 million tax bill. “I would like to know who I really am, but I can get by with the love of the people I care for,” Mark Davis concluded.
Sammy Davis, Jr. was one of America’s greatest entertainers of the twentieth century. He could do it all: dancing, singing, acting, impressions. What’s more, he did this at a time when it was difficult to be an African-American in the United States—during a period where even the entertainment industry provided as many obstacles as opportunities. Davis was a champion of civil rights, and he constantly pushed against the boundaries of segregation on- and off-stage. Even though he could have made a fortune playing clubs all over the country, he starred on Broadway in several shows—and shared the first interracial kiss in a Broadway musical. Among his many attributes, he performed for the civil rights movement in Selma and was an avid and gifted photographer. The list goes on.
Because of that we took an even deeper dive with Broadway musical theatre expert Laurence Maslon, the writer of Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, into which songs inspired and resonated with Davis, complete with a curated Spotify playlist below.
“‘Waiting for the Robert E. Lee’” was exactly the kind of “flash act” that black tap dancers performed on the Chitlin Circuit in the early part of the twentieth century; this is where Sammy Davis, Jr. got his start—at the age of five!—with “The Will Mastin Trio,” according to Maslon.
Then, when Davis was a teenager, Maslon said he met the great Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, singing “Doin’ the New Low Down” (see the playlist below), backstage in Boston. Robinson’s sense of style was a huge influence on Davis.
One of Davis’ most famous covers is “Mr. Bojangles” and yet, Maslon says, initially, it wasn’t a song he was ever enthusiastic about.
“He thought it was a downer and hit too close to home. Nina Simone was the first black artist to record the number that eventually became a signature tune for Davis,” Maslon adds.
Davis opens up in the film about why, as time passed, he saw a deeper resonance for himself in “Mr. Bojangles.”
Maslon says Al Jolson’s all-out, 100%, performances were immensely influential to Sammy’s style.
“Sammy often used this particular song as a jumping-off point for his many and varied impressions of other singers and movie stars,” he says.
Davis idolized Billy Eckstine, who Maslon says represented a new kind of black singer after World War II, one who could sing popular romantic ballads, not just rhythm songs. After watching the film you will learn that Davis’ impressions were spot on and wildly entertaining.
Sammy Davis Jr On Auto Tune 2017
“Sammy idolized Eckstine,” he adds, “and—by the way! —did a dead-on imitation of him.”
Sammy Davis Jr On Auto Tune Live
Jazz singer Carmen McRae’s “Summertime” song is on Davis’ playlist as, Maslon says, “she was beloved by Sammy and one of the few female artists he recorded with on Decca.”
As Davis grew older, so did his experience in the entertainment industry deepen, as Mr. Wonderful—sung by Peggy Lee—was the first Broadway vehicle for Davis in 1956. Below is Lee singing the title song about his character which was, coincidentally, the first musical Billy Crystal (who is interviewed in the film) was ever taken to see.
What many people might not know is that one of Davis’ deepest regrets was that he never got to play the lead in Phantom of the Opera. However, he did perform this number on the concert stage up through the final performances of his career; so the song makes it onto the playlist: “Music Of The Night” by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“Probably no singer—with the possible exception of Tony Bennett—recorded more songs from the post-World II Broadway repertoire than Sammy; here is another idol, Alfred Drake, conveying sex appeal and humor from Kiss Me, Kate,” Maslon says.
Sammy Davis Jr Car Accident
Sammy Davis, Jr. with Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in the 1960 film Ocean’s 11. Credit: Everett Collection, Inc.
Even with idols like Billy Eckstine and Alfred Drake, Maslon says no one was more influential to Davis’ career than Frank Sinatra.
“His singing style, off-stage manner, and immense success were all elements that cast a long shadow over Sammy’s own artistry,” he says.
According to Maslon, Davis also shared a kinship with Michael Jackson, whose tribute to Sammy you’ll get to see in the film.
“Sammy and Michael Jackson were, in many ways, two sides of the same coin: child stars who grew up to maximize every inch of their immense talents. They admired each other, too; Michael used to ask Sammy for advice and he did a knock-out imitation of Michael,” he adds.
It’s no surprise that the entertainer, who Maslon calls Davis’ British avatar, Anthony Newley, was one of Davis’s favorite songs on the list: “What Kind of Fool Am I?” is on the list of Davis’ favorite songs.
“Anthony Newley was short, cocky, emotionally invested—and Sammy saw his performances on the London stage in the early 1960s, then became the first American to record them,” he says. The final song on the Sammy Davis, Jr.’s playlist was introduced originally by singer and actor Steve Lawrence from the Broadway musical Golden Rainbow in 1967, according to Maslon.
“He gave the song to his pal Sammy because he felt the song could be much more resonant sung by a black artist in the civil rights era,” Maslon adds.
Sammy Davis, Jr.’s undeniable talent and willingness to break down racial barriers is just one of the many ways his complex life story will inspire anyone who watches Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me. Enjoy this special playlist curated by the writer of the film, Laurence Maslon.
Premieres Tuesday, February 19 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) with exclusive bonus performance footage. Available on DVD February 19 via PBS Distribution. Streams Wednesday, February 20 via pbs.org/americanmasters and PBS apps.