Little Eva hit the scene in 1961, with the smash single and dance craze, “The Locomotion” (if you only know the song from Kylies version then you owe to it to yourself to check out Eva’s exuberant original.) She was only 18 and brimming with energy.
Eva used to baby sit for the young songwriting partnership of Goffin and King, and they were the ones that provided her with the material she needed to top the charts. (King was also only 18 in 1961. Earlier that year she’d had her first number one as a songwriter with “Will you still love me tomorrow?”) Although Eva later sank into obscurity and poverty, for a brief moment in the early 60s she was the life of the party. Who else could get away with the type of fluff exhibited below?
Little Eva - Let's Turkey Trot (1963)
Incidently, “Turkey Trot” is playing in the background of the diner scene in Easy Rider. You know, the one where a hill-billy says Dennis Hopper looks like the product of a gorilla love in.