Clay Davidson is an American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist. He signed to Virgin Records

Virgin Records

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

' Nashville division in late 1999, Davidson released his debut album Unconditional on April 11, 2000. Its title track was a top 5 hit for him on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

country charts, and the album produced two more Top 30 hits. Davidson was later transferred to Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 Nashville after Virgin Nashville's lineup was merged into Capitol, although he did not record anything for Capitol and was soon dropped. Unconditional remains his only album.

Biography

Clay Davidson was born in Saltville, Virginia

Saltville, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,204 people, 909 households, and 660 families residing in the town. The population density was 273.7 people per square mile . There were 1,003 housing units at an average density of 124.5 per square mile...

 to a musical family. At age 18, he joined his older brother in moving to Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, and later moved to Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 in search of a record deal. While in Nashville, Davidson won Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels

Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...

' Talent Round-Up show. Davidson and his wife later moved to Tennessee, and Davidson soon became a demo singer for other artists.

Davidson was later called in to substitute for Michael McDonald

Michael McDonald (singer)

Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...

 at a party for rock artist Jude Cole

Jude Cole

Jude Cole is a manager, record producer and singer/songwriter/guitarist.-Career:Cole's solo records, "Jude Cole", "A View from 3rd Street" and "Start the Car" were released on Warner Bros./Reprise Records, and contained the singles "Baby, It's Tonight", "Time for Letting Go" and "Start the Car"...

. While at the party, Cole recommended Davidson to Scott Hendricks, who had just started the Virgin Records

Virgin Records

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 label. Davidson's first album, Unconditional, was released in 2000, producing three hit singles on the country music charts.

In early 2001, Virgin Records announced that it would be closing its Virgin Nashville branch. Virgin's artist roster was transferred to Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

. However, he did not record any albums or singles during his tenure on Capitol. On July 20, 2001, Davidson and his road band were in a bus accident outside Effingham, Illinois

Effingham, Illinois

Effingham is a city in Effingham County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,384 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Effingham County....

. He and his bandmates suffered only minor cuts and bruises, and several concerts had to be cancelled.

Clay now plays in the band Caution out of Glade Spring, Virginia.

Albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US Country	US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
Unconditional Unconditional (album) Unconditional is the only album by American country music artist Clay Davidson, released in 2000 on Virgin Records Nashville. Its title track was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in 2000...	Release date: April 11, 2000 Label: Virgin Records Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...	33	39

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...	US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
2000	"Unconditional Unconditional (Clay Davidson song) "Unconditional" is the debut single of American country music singer Clay Davidson that reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, peaking at #3. It was his most successful hit single to date.-Content:... "[A]	3	49	Unconditional
	"I Can't Lie to Me"	26	117
2001	"Sometimes"	21	112

^ "Unconditional" also peaked at number 9 on the RPM

RPM (magazine)

RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

Country Tracks chart in Canada.