Little Eva (Eva Narcissus Boyd) poses on a miniature train for her album cover session in 1962. Photo: Popsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
On this day in 1962, North Carolina native Little Eva went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart with her smash hit "The Loco-Motion."
Why it matters: You're tapping your feet and humming the song already, for one. Yeah, we see you.
The song's story: Eva Narcissus Boyd grew up in Belhaven, a town about two hours east of Raleigh. She left the state for New York as a teenager to try to make it in the music business.
- She was 17 years old and working as a babysitter for songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who wrote "Loco-Motion" and asked her to sing the demo.
- Another artist turned down the chance to record it, so a producer simply released the demo, almost on a whim.
- It spread like wildfire.
Be smart: Little Eva died in Kinston in 2003 and was laid to rest in a cemetery in Belhaven. In 2008, a monument maker donated a tombstone that has a locomotive on it.
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