J.C. "Billy" Davis was born in Mississippi and was raised in the Delta Town of Belzoni before moving 13 years later to Detroit. His first name, J.C., doesn't signify anything, Billy has stated. He was called Billy for most his young life. Several years later after moving to Detroit's Black Bottom neighborhood, he took up the guitar learning from Bosie Gatlin and formed Billy Davis and The Upsetters in 1956 a group managed by a young Berry Gordy. Eighteen months later he was spotted by Hank Ballard who persuaded him to join the Midnighters. He was with Hank Ballard and The Midnighters for 30 years and he was the original lead guitarist for Jackie Wilson. In 1959, Davis on tour with the Hank Ballard and the Midnighters in Seattle met the teenaged Jimi Hendrix, becoming a sort of mentor to the future legend, teaching him what he knew about guitar. As Billy tells the story. "Now, I'm in the dressing room — and the room's full of beautiful chicks — and Pat Paterson our trumpet player comes and tells me: 'Man, there's a guy out here that wants to meet you.' See, Jimi just kept bugging him. Pat came back about two or three times, and he's like, 'Please come and just say something to him, he is just bugging me.' So, I walked out into the hallway and Jimi's standing there with a big smile on his face. We started talking and, next thing I knew, before I left, he'd invited me to his house to meet his father. And I went over there. Why I did it, to this very day, I don't know, because I had never seen the kid before in my life. But, it was just something about him. He had a real beautiful smile and just looked like a good-hearted person and I just took to him."