Little Eva

by Richie UnterbergerLittle Eva Narcissus Boyd was a babysitter for Carole King and Gerry Goffin when the songwriting team was inspired to write Locomotion, a song based on a dance that Eva would do around the house. Eva also got to sing on their demo, which impressed Don Kirshner enough to release it as it was. One of the greatest girl group hits, Locomotion, hit number one in 1962; the follow-up, Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, was also written by Goffin-King. Almost as good as her debut, it reached the Top 20, and was even covered by the Beatles on stage in their early days (though they never recorded it in the studio). Unfortunately, Eva was then pigeonholed as a dance-craze singer and given inferior material. She never again reached the soulful heights of her first two singles; Lets Turkey Trot (1963) was her only other Top 20 hit, although she continued working until October 2001. She succumbed to cervical cancer in April of 2003.