Jimmy Boyd
| Jimmy Boyd | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 9, 1939 McComb, Pike County, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | March 7, 2009 (aged 70) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1951–2009 |
| Spouse(s) |
Yvonne Craig (m. 1960; div. 1962) Anne Forrey (m. 1980; div. 1984) |
| Children | 1 |
Jimmy Boyd (January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
James Boyd was born near McComb, Mississippi to father Leslie and mother Winnie Boyd. His father was a farmer and picked cotton to help support the family that eventually included twenty-one children. When Boyd was two years old, his father put Boyd, a brother, and his mother on a train to Riverside, California. Not having enough money to buy tickets for himself, Boyd's father was a stowaway on freight trains west to join his family.
Boyd's grandfather, William Boyd (known as "Fiddler Bill"), played at dances and family gatherings in Mississippi. Along with all of father's siblings, Leslie Boyd played guitar and harmonica and started teaching Boyd to play guitar when he was nine years old. Leslie had been a farmer when a drought hit and there were no more crops, so he picked cotton. Because his father was a cotton farmer and there was no cotton in California to pick, finding work was difficult. His father eventually got work cleaning up construction sites, and ended up becoming a finish carpenter.
Boyd's parents would take their children to country and western dances held in a barn in Colton, California outside of Riverside. It was at one of these dances when Boyd's older, nine-year old brother, Kenneth, went up to the bandstand and told the band leader, Texas Jim Lewis, he should hear his little brother sing and play the guitar. Lewis called seven-year-old Boyd up to the stage to sing and play. After the dance concluded, Lewis and the manager of a local radio station approached Boyd’s parents to make an offer of $50 per appearance on an hour-long radio show to be broadcast from the dance every Saturday night.
While the family was in Los Angeles for surgery Leslie Boyd required for cataracts, they were told about auditions being held for the Al Jarvis Talent Show on KLAC-TV. Following his audition, Boyd appeared on Jarvis' show the same night. Winning the contest, Boyd was the subject of numerous telegrams and telephone calls from fans addressed to Jarvis and KLAC.
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