Little Eva was babysitting for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin when they heard her singing and decided to put her voice on their new single, "The Loco-motion". The song was a massive overnight success that launched Little Eva to stardom. The song reached #1 in the United States in 1962 and sold over one million copies.  

Little Eva enjoyed relative success with her next single,  "Keep Your Hands off My Baby," which made it into the top 20 that same year. Later efforts, however, failed to catch on with fans and Eva was stereotyped as a dance-craze singer and was given limited material. Her career as a top-selling female pop-star was essentially over. She continued to perform live on the circuit in New York City during the sixties, but, becoming increasingly disillusioned with the music industry Little Eva quit singing and faded into obscurity. 

Separated from her husband and with three children to support Eva moved back to her hometown in North Carolina where she worked different menial jobs to make ends meet. 

In the late 1980s, Little Eva enjoyed a career revival with the release of Kylie Minogue's cover version of "The Loco-motion". She returned to live performing and began touring the circuit with other artists from the 1960's. She continued performing until she was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. 

Produced by Colm Keane

First broadcast in 2004