Patricia Davis
Born
Fort Worth, Texas
Other names"The Butterfly", "Madam Butterfly" and "China Doll"
OccupationSoul Train line dancer
Years active1971–1976
Known forDancing and fashion

Pat "Madam Butterfly" Davis (b. c.1956) was an American dancer who performed on the television music show Soul Train during the 1970s.

Biography

Patricia Davis was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and was five years old when she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she grew up.[1][2] Davis said she loved dancing from when she was a child, and put on multiple performances for money from a young age.[2] She lied about her age to get on Soul Train because she was too young to be allowed to dance on the show.[2]

Davis was one of the original Soul Train dancers and was considered a fan favorite.[3] Davis became popular for her unique dancing during a dance segment of the show known as the Soul Train line.[4] She has been called a "fashion and dance icon."[5] She received a lot of fan mail and was known for wearing 1940s fashions and always having a flower or butterfly clip in her hair.[2][4] She's said she was inspired to wear 40s fashion from The Pointer Sisters and to wear flowers and butterflies after seeing Diana Ross wear flowers in her hair when playing Billie Holiday in the movie Lady Sings the Blues.[2] After the Jackson 5 first appeared on Soul Train, Davis gave lessons on neck twists and locking steps to Michael Jackson at his home to help him improve his Robot.[6] Davis frequently used props, including once sucking on a baby's bottle during the Soul Train line.[7]

Davis was sometimes known as "The Butterfly", "Madam Butterfly" or "China Doll."[2][4][5]

Davis was featured in several issues of Right On! magazine, and had a monthly column in Rock & Soul magazine.[8] She danced on the music performance show American Bandstand. She appeared on the television show The Dating Game.[8] At the first Soul Train Gang reunion, Davis was voted “Soul Train’s Original All Time Diva”.[2][5] Davis had a cameo appearance in the 1976 movie Detroit 9000 where she did a dance to "Disco Lady" by Johnnie Taylor.[4][8] She was in several groups including Something Special and the duo Essence. She moved to Vienna, Austria in the early 80s to start a solo music/dance career, then toured through Europe.[1] She married doctor Karl Bachmayer on June 12, 2007.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Pat Davis" (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Diary of an Ex-Soul Train Dancer: Q&A with Former Soul Train Dancer Patricia Davis – Soul Train". 2015-09-07. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  3. ↑ Danois, Ericka Blount (2013-08-01). Love, Peace, and Soul: Behind the Scenes of America's Favorite Dance Show Soul Train: Classic Moments. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781480363984.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Soul Train 1971-2006". The Michigan Chronicle. 2009-09-29. Archived from the original on 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  5. 1 2 3 Haque, Fahima (2012-02-03). "'Soul Train' line lives on after Don Cornelius". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  6. ↑ Knopper, Steve (2016-06-28). MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. Simon and Schuster. p. 62. ISBN 9781476730387.
  7. ↑ Lehman, Christopher P. (2008-04-16). A Critical History of Soul Train on Television. McFarland. p. 83. ISBN 9780786436699.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Pure Grooves Web Magazine Issue 51 (26-09-11)". content.yudu.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
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