Imagine downloading holiday songs in itunes and stumbling across a recording from someone you know. Maybe an odd occurrence for most of us, but definitely possible for some.  But how about when it's your grandfather? Singing a recording that hit #1 on the Billboard chart in March, 1955?   That's not something that happens everyday, but it happened to me last month, and took me a little bit by surprise.  Even though my grandfather, the actor Bill Hayes, is famous, I still didn't expect to find him on iTunes.  Known to many as Days of our Lives soapstar Doug Williams, the lounge-singing ex-convict turned into Mr. Nice-Guy with the love of a good woman, Julie Williams a.k.a. Susan Seaforth (my real-life step-grandmother), many of you don't know that he was a star before he joined the afternoon soaps.

My grandfather probably received his musical talent from his father, who enjoyed acting and singing and performed in many local venues, with his children occasionally performing with him.  In 1946, after leaving the Navy and graduating from DePauw University, Bill accidentally got his start when he subbed for his brother Phil, who was sick with laryngitis, on an audition for Carousel.  He got the part, and his show business career was launched. 

He spent the next several years singing in a variety of places, and in 1949 received his second big break when he joined the cast of Funzapoppin, an old-fashioned vaudeville/burlesque style show. Following the show run, he was launched into TV stardom with the live Fire-Ball Fun-For-All Show, which replaced the on-hiatus Milton Berle Show, and from there became a resident crooner on Your Show of Shows, starring Imogene Coca and Sid Caesar. 

Films beckoned as did Vaudeville and Broadway, and my grandfather had a variety of roles through 1955.  And somewhere along the way he recorded"The Ballad of Davey Crockett", to support the Walt Disney Production movie Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.  The song debuted on Billboard at #16 in February 1955, and 4-weeks later topped the charts at #1. That recording has sold over 3-million copies and earned him a gold record. And for only 99 cents, I can buy it at iTunes.  Or you can go to YouTube and see Grandpa Bill sing it himself, complete in a coonskin cap.  Now how many people do you know that can say THAT?

Grampa Hayes is truly an amazing person and we look forward to having him back at the firefly soon for another sing-along soon!