About Chip

A visionary musician and businessman, Chip Davis is behind a remarkable body of work now spanning five decades. Since founding Mannheim Steamroller and American Gramaphone Records in 1974, Davis has written, arranged, and recorded over 35 albums, highlighted by the RIAA multi-platinum certified Mannheim Steamroller catalog. The best-selling Christmas music artist in history, Davis has achieved worldwide sales in excess of 40 million, with four multi-platinum, eight platinum, and 19 gold certifications in the US alone. Furthermore, Davis is the entrepreneur behind Mannheim Steamroller lifestyle product line, amateur astronomer, and dedicated philanthropist.

American Gramaphone recently commemorated its impact on popular culture with MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER 30/40, a multi-media celebration of Davis’ milestone works: 1974’s FRESH AIRE and 1984’s MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER CHRISTMAS. In addition, MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER 30/40 LIVE had its Public Broadcasting debut in May 2015 and fast joined the ranks of PBS’ most popular new special programming.  PBS stations throughout the country have continued to renew the special every year.

2019 marked the 35th Anniversary of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour, making it the longest running consecutive tour in the music industry. The hugely successful tour now requires two traveling troupes, performing concerts in an average 90 cities annually.   A third troupe highlights the holiday season at Universal Orlando Resort.

The man behind Mannheim was born Louis F. Davis, Jr. in the archetypal small town of Hamler, Ohio (Pop. 500), the son of a family to whom music and “a sensitivity to nature” were integral. He graduated the University of Michigan in 1969 with mastery in bassoon and percussion before taking on a job at the Omaha, NE ad agency, Bozell & Jacobs. In 1974, Davis and fellow ad exec Bill Fries teamed up to create a fictional truck driver named “C.W. McCall” for a series of Clio Award-winning commercials. A string of hit albums and top 40 singles followed, including of course by the RIAA gold certified #1 classic, “Convoy.” The single brought Davis many accolades including SESAC Coiuntry Music Songwriter of the Year.

The success of C.W. McCall allowed Davis to focus on his own original music. He dubbed his new band Mannheim Steamroller – a play on the 18th-century musical technique known as the “Mannheim crescendo” – and in 1975 recorded FRESH AIRE, a landmark work melding elements of classical, rock, and pop into something altogether unique. Foiled by the industry’s inability to put a label on the album, Davis decided to distribute and sell FRESH AIRE on his own – American Gramaphone Records was born.

Davis employed innovative marketing techniques to spread his “18^th Century Classical Rock” and FRESH AIRE eventually found its way onto record store shelves everywhere, fitted with the newly created classification “New Age.” Each consecutive installment in the FRESH AIRE series saw Mannheim Steamroller pushing their inimitable synthesis forward, earning multi-million album sales, countless fans, and, with FRESH AIRE 7, the 1991 GRAMMY® Award for “Best New Age Album.”

In 1984, Davis had the idea to reinvigorate traditional carols and Yuletide staples via Mannheim Steamroller’s always-eclectic sonic approach. MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER CHRISTMAS proved a phenomenon, the band’s first to reach the Billboard 200 album chart on its way to 6x RIAA platinum certification. A FRESH AIRE CHRISTMAS followed in 1988, achieving 6x platinum certification and ultimately surpassing its monumentally successful predecessor to be declared the sixth best-selling holiday album of the SoundScan era.

Further Christmas collections – including 1995’s 4x platinum certified CHRISTMAS IN THE AIRE and 2001’s 3x platinum certified CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINAIRE – followed, resulting in cumulative Christmas album sales in excess of 31 million. The Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour quickly became as much a Yuletide tradition as the albums themselves, selling out arenas nationwide each holiday season. 2019 marks the 35th year of the Tour, making it the the longest running consecutive tour and one of most successful musical caravans in industry history, with two separate troupes performing in nearly 90 cities each year. What’s more, still another incarnation headlines the holiday festivities at Universal Orlando® Resort on select Saturday and Sunday nights during the holiday season.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Davis also expanded his product line beyond music, including apparel, food and other items.  He is the author of a number of childrens books and somehow found time to host Mannheim Steamroller’s An American Christmas, a 12-hour nationally broadcast radio special heard annually on over 500 stations across the United States and the Armed Services radio network.

The steadfastly autonomous American Gramaphone label has also released works by an array of like-minded artists. For their part, Mannheim Steamroller has observed additional holidays while also exploring inspirations spanning the music of Walt Disney films to the majesty of Yellowstone National Park.  A two-year Yellowstone concert tour resulted in the highest individual contribution to the park by Davis.

A committed naturalist, Davis and his American Gramaphone crew of top sound technicians have amassed a notable catalog of natural sounds, from the Tucson desert to the full sonic span of all four seasons in the Midwest. The recordings are highlighted on Davis’ popular AMBIENCE series.

Neck surgery in 1984 inspired Davis’ creation of Ambient Therapy, a patented system used in such esteemed medical facilities as the Mayo Clinic and The National Intrepid Center For Excellence in Bethesda, Md.  The system contributes to faster healing by reducing stress, anxiety and other barriers to recovery via musical content and 4-channel surround sound algorithms.

Davis’ lifelong interest in astronomy has led to an extended relationship with NASA, including several trips to Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach and Johnson Space Center in Houston where his team recorded Space Shuttle launches and landings that have been characterized as “the most accurate recordings.”

The indefatigable Davis still travels the country on behalf of American Gramaphone, but prefers to spend his time on his 150-acre farm outside Omaha, joined by his children Kelly, Elyse and Evan, as well as his “farm family” – a full menagerie of critters including four horses and two timber wolves. Five decades on, Chip Davis determinedly carries on each day with the original spirit of creative drive and invention that first inspired him.

“There wasn’t any business plan when I started American Gramaphone,” he says. “There wasn’t any target I was looking at. It’s always been about just moving forward and doing things I like to do.”