Little Eva
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the singer. For other uses, see Little Eva (disambiguation).
| Little Eva | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Eva Narcissus Boyd |
| Born | June 29, 1943 Belhaven, North Carolina, United States |
| Died | April 10, 2003 (aged 59) Kinston, North Carolina, United States |
| Genres | Pop, R&B |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Years active | 1962–2001 (singer) |
| Labels | Dimension, Collectables, Amy, Verve, Spring, Malibu |
| Associated acts | Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Don Kirshner |
Biography
Born in Belhaven, North Carolina, she moved to the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin.[1] It is often claimed that Goffin and King were amused by Boyd's individual dancing style, so they wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo (the record was intended for Dee Dee Sharp).However, as King said in an interview with NPR and in her "One to One" concert video, they knew she could sing when they met her, and it would be just a matter of time before they would have her record songs they wrote, the most successful being "The Loco-Motion".
Music producer Don Kirshner of Dimension Records was impressed by the song and Boyd's voice and had it released.[1] The song reached #1 in the United States in 1962. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[1] After the success of "The Loco-Motion", Boyd was stereotyped as a dance-craze singer and was given limited material.
The same year, Goffin and King wrote "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)" (performed by The Crystals) after discovering that Boyd was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend.[2] When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied, with apparent sincerity, that her boyfriend's actions were motivated by his love for her.[2]
Phil Spector's arrangement of the song was ominous and ambiguous.[2]
| “ | It was a brutal song, as any attempt to justify such violence must be, and Spector’s arrangement only amplified its savagery, framing Barbara Alston’s lone vocal amid a sea of caustic strings and funereal drums, while the backing vocals almost trilled their own belief that the boy had done nothing wrong. In more ironic hands (and a more understanding age), 'He Hit Me' might have passed at least as satire. But Spector showed no sign of appreciating that, nor did he feel any need to. No less than the song’s writers, he was not preaching, he was merely documenting." | ” |
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— Dave Thompson[2]
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She continued to tour and record throughout the sixties, but her commercial potential plummeted after 1964. She retired from the music industry in 1971. She never owned the rights to her recordings. Although the prevailing rumor in the 1970s was that she had received only $50 for "The Loco-Motion," it seems $50 was actually her weekly salary at the time she made her records (an increase of $15 from what Goffin and King had been paying her as nanny). Penniless, she returned with her three young children to North Carolina, where they lived in obscurity.[4]
Interviewed in 1988 after the success of the Kylie Minogue cover version of "The Loco-Motion", Boyd stated that she did not like the new version; however its then-current popularity allowed her to make a comeback in show business.[5]
She returned to live performing with other artists of her era on the cabaret and oldies circuits. She also occasionally recorded new songs.
The only existing footage of Little Eva performing "Loco-Motion" is a small clip from the ABC sixties live show Shindig! where she sang a short version of the clip along with the famous dance steps. She also sang "Let's Turkey Trot" and The Exciters song "I Want You to Be My Boy" in the same episode. This TV show was one of her final performances until 1988, when she began performing in concerts with Bobby Vee and other singers. In a 1991 Richard Nader concert, she performed "Loco-Motion" and "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby". The concert was partially documented on videotape, albeit of marginal quality.
Eva's eldest daughter, Dorothea, died April 6th, 2013, from heart failure.
Death
She continued performing until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October 2001. She died 18 months later in Kinston, North Carolina, aged 59, and is buried in a small cemetery in Belhaven, North Carolina. Her gravesite was sparsely marked until July 2008, when a report by WRAL-TV of Raleigh, North Carolina highlighted deteriorating conditions at the cemetery and efforts by the city of Belhaven to have it restored.[6] A simple white cross had marked the site until a new gravestone was unveiled in November of that year. Her new grey gravestone has the image of a steam locomotive prominently engraved on the front and the epitaph reads: "Singing with the Angels".[7]Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | UK | ||
| 1962 | "The Loco-Motion" | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" | 12 | 6 | 30 | |
| 1963 | "Swingin' on a Star" | 38 | — | — |
| "Let's Turkey Trot" | 20 | 16 | 13 | |
| "Old Smokey Loco-Motion" | 48 | — | — | |
| "What I Gotta Do (To Make You Jealous)" | 101 | — | — | |
| "Let's Start the Party Again" | 123 | — | — | |
| 1970 | "Mama Said"A | — | — | — |
| 1972 | "Loco-Motion" | — | — | 11 |
| 1973 | "Loco-Motion" | — | — | — |
| 1986 | "Loco-Motion" | — | — | 87 |
- A "Mama Said" also peaked at #96 on RPM Top Tracks
References
- Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 148. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- "allmusic". Retrieved 2009-07-07.
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 324. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- Little Eva
- 12:01AM BST 14 Apr 2003 (2003-04-14). "Little Eva". Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- Wral.com/news/local
- Wral.com
External links
Media related to Little Eva at Wikimedia Commons- Spectropop remembers Little Eva (1943 - 2003), a biography of the singer
- History-of-Rock
- Eva Narcissus "Little Eva" Boyd at Find a Grave
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