Biography

Shelly Davis grew up in New York, falling in love with his grandfather’s 78’s of players like Dizzy, Parker, Coleman Hawkins and Teddy Wilson. At 16 he won a Downbeat scholarship for a summer at Berklee with his improvisational piano music. He studied privately in NY with Jimmy Giuffre and at 18 became an original member of the multi-million selling “Brooklyn Bridge.” Shelly brought a jazz influence to the group with his originals, keyboard and trumpet and eventually switched to only keyboards. The Bridge then added great NY jazz players like Enrico Rava to the horn section during the beginnings of early 70’s jazz-rock. In 1973 Shelly left New York and performed for several years in Nashville, Aspen, Boulder and Kansas City with his jazz and original groups and was the opening act for Mose Alison and Bonnie Raitt.  Shelly moved to Orlando in 1980 doing 8 sets of ragtime at Disney’s Coke Corner while playing a downtown jazz club 5 nights a week. Shelly met Sharon Rae at a jazz jam he was hosting and they began working together, co-leading jazz and pop groups. They married and soon landed a 10 year gig with Rivership Romance Cruises, doing weekly jazz cruises and dinner dance music. Sharon and Shelly (also known as Sunyatta) worked theme parks, resorts, clubs and cruises for 25 years in Florida, sharing the stage with artists that included Dave Koz, Marc Antoine, Alan Vache, Larry Coryell and Jim Hall.In 2006, Sharon and Shelly moved west to Arizona and finally back to Colorado where they are music directors at Unity of Littleton. Shelly regularly performs as a solo artist and with Sharon and other outstanding front range musicians. In 2006, Shelly was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Learn more at sharonandshelly.com