Catalina Island resident and musician Spencer Davis, 81, died Oct. 19. Davis was best known for his influence on 1960s music. According to news reports, he was being treated for pneumonia. He moved to Avalon in the 1970s.
Davis was featured in a Cat–alina Island Museum exhibition about his band, the Spencer Davis Group.
“Spencer Davis was an absolute treasure,” wrote Gail Fornasiere, the museum’s director of marketing and public relations.
“In 2012, the Catalina Island Museum celebrated Davis and his career through an exhibition entitled “Gimme Some Lovin’: The Spencer Davis Group.” The exhibition was the first to draw from his personal archive and gave a rare behind the scenes look into the people and events that shaped one of the most celebrated bands of the 1960s,” wrote Fornasiere.
“Davis also participated in a British invasion symposium and Fourth of July concert in which he performed with the Catalina Island All-Stars on Casino Point put on by the museum,” wrote Fornasiere.
“During that time, I had the personal pleasure of accompanying him to various radio and TV interviews promoting these events where he shared some of his amazing rock and roll memories. He was a kind and gentle soul who loved Catalina Island. He will be dearly missed,” wrote Fornasiere.
Davis, of the Spencer Davis Group, discovered Steve Winwood.
“Spencer was an early pioneer of the British folk scene, which, in his case embraced folk blues, and eventually what was then called ‘Rhythm and Blues.” Winwood wrote in a statement posted on his website.
