Died On This Date (March 7, 2009) Jimmy Boyd / Sang “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
themusicsover Jimmy Boyd
January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009
Jimmy Boyd was a popular ’50s and ’60s television actor as well as a singer and musician who is best remembered for his 1952 recording of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Recorded just before he hit his teens, the song as gone on to sell an astonishing 60,000,000 copies ever since. Thanks to its popularity, Boyd became a popular fixture on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Frank Sinatra Show, The Tonight Show, and American Bandstand, to name a few. Although Boyd had opportunities to make rock ‘n roll records, including with legendary producer Sam Phillips, he was working with Mitch Miller who hated the new style of music. Boyd was very loyal to Miller who had signed him to Columbia Records, but as a pop singer. During the mid ’60s, Boyd finally started making more rock-leaning records when he worked with the likes of Bobby Darin,Terry Melcher and Leon Russell. One such record was for a song written by Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame – it helped Boyd land a recording contract with A&M. Jimmy Boyd was 70 when he died of cancer on March 7, 2009.
What You Should Own
Mark Linkous was the multi-instrumentalist leader of alternative rock group, Sparklehorse, who became an critics’ darling cult band after the release of their debut album, Vivadixiesubmarine- transmissionplot, in 1995. Prior to that, he was a member of the Dancing Hoods, who he co-founded in the mid ’80s. In 1996, while on tour with Radiohead, Linkous overdosed Valium, antidepressants and alcohol, causing him to lay unconscious with his legs pinned underneath him for fourteen hours. He literally died for two minutes when rescuers tried to straighten his legs which had been cut off from circulation for the duration of his unconsciousness. The incident left him with permanent damage to his legs. In 2009, Linkous collaborated on a Dark Night of Soul with famed indie producer Danger Mouse and iconic film director, David Lynch. The multi-media project also includes performance by Flaming Lips, Suzanne Vega, 
Lowell Fulson was an influential west coast blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was one of the key figures of the ’40s and ’50s. After moving to Los Angeles in the early ’40s, Fulson formed his first band which included future greats, 
George McKelvey was a comic, actor and folk singer who achieved success during the ’60s and ’70s after he switched from music to stand-up comedy. As a folk singer, he did have a moderate hit with the timely and satirical “My Radiation Baby, My Teenage Fallout Queen” of 1964. After switching to comedy, he became a popular support act for the likes of the Righteous Brothers, Tower of Power and Glenn Yarbrough. George McKelvey, 72, died of a stroke on March 6, 2009.