There are many ways to break into showbusiness. Predictable ways, like recording a demo, trying to get some press, playing gigs and getting heard by a talent scout. And less predictable ways, like babysitting.

Eva Boyd was born in North Carolina but moved to Brooklyn as a teen. She eventually made the acquaintance of a much in-demand backing vocalist named Earl-Jean who regularly worked with many stars of the day. This would prove a fateful connection.

Early 1960s New York still served as the epicenter of pop music, particularly around the hitmaking factory known as the Brill Building, and during recording sessions the producers, singers, musicians, and songwriters would all be in the studio trying to make a hit record together. It was very much a family affair (well, as much as it could be in the cutthroat music business).

During one of these sessions, songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King spoke about their infant daughter — who they had to bring to the studio whenever they worked — and asked if anyone knew of a babysitter. Earl-Jean said she had a friend named Eva who might be interested. Oh, and she could sing, too.

Goffin and King had already scored two #1 hits in 1961 when they hired Eva Boyd. They hoped for another with a song called “The Loco-Motion,” an attempt to invent a new dance craze, and asked Eva to sing the demo. The song was intended for Dee Dee Sharp, who would have her own dance hit with “Mashed Potato Time” in 1962, but her producers turned it down. But all was far from lost.

Music publisher Don Kirshner, who worked closely with many of the Brill building songwriters, heard the demo and thought Eva’s take on the song sounded great. So Goffin and King hit the studio to record a polished version, with Goffin producing and King on backing vocals, along with Earl-Jean, of course, without whom none of this would have happened.

Released as a single in June of 1962, “The Loco-Motion” steamed its way straight to #1. There was no namesake dance so Eva had to make one up. The song, however, far outlasted the dance, hitting #1 again in 1974 by Grand Funk Railroad, and #3 in 1988 by Kylie Minogue. Little Eva never scored another hit on the same level, but Goffin and King still had to find a new babysitter.

So swing your hips now… with Little Eva.