Remember Clifton Davis? He starred in the 70’s hit TV show, That’s My Mama, and the 80’s hit, Amen (also starring Sherman Hemsley).
What many may not know is that Davis was a very successful songwriter also, with two of his biggest hits being the Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Lookin’ Through The Windows.”
Another thing most of us didn’t know is that Davis was also a heavy cocaine addict, an admitted womanizer, an abusive boyfriend, and a self proclaimed ‘people user.’ Davis detailed how he somehow turned it all around and began preaching the word of the Bible as a devoted minister.
“I was committed to getting over with the women, enjoying my life and doing what I pleased. I was selfish and cold, and I felt no shame about it.”
Davis is referring to the reputation he had of using the women in his life. He was in a four year relationship with singer, Melba Moore, back in the day. He also had a thing going on with jazz singer, Nancy Wilson, and a few other celebs, mixed in with the groupie love and one-night stands he confessed to having at the same time.
While all of that was going on, Davis said he was becoming an avid cocaine addict and he said the unstable nature of show business is what sparked it. His addiction kicked in right after winning a Tony Award in 1972 for Two Gentlemen of Verona:
“You’re nervous until you get the next job, and when you get it, you think, ‘I got it because I am great! Then the job would end. ‘I’m nothing. Nobody loves me.’ Finally I got to the point where I said to myself, ‘You ain’t nothing. Let’s get high and don’t worry about it.’ ”
By 1979, Davis was a really heavy coke addict. He’d ruined tons of personal and business relationships and he was only getting worse:
[That period of time was filled with] “invading emptiness. It was all going out, there wasn’t anything going in. I was so high I couldn’t audition, and I didn’t show up for a few gigs. I was coked from morning to night.”
Although he was raking in $250,000 a year from That’s My Mama and other TV appearances, he was still falling short on being able to keep up payments on his drug bill. He eventually had to sell his Hollywood Hills house (in L.A.) and move into a much smaller penthouse apartment just to make ends meet. Here’s how he survived…
