James Wayne "Jim" Stafford, who was born in Eloise, Florida and raised in Winter Haven, Florida, is a comedian, musician, and singer-songwriter, prominent in the 1970s. Stafford taught himself to play guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ and harmonica. In high school, he played in a band along with friends Bobby Braddock, Kent LaVoie - also known as Lobo - and Gram Parsons of the Byrds.
Stafford's first chart hit was "Swamp Witch," produced by Lobo, which barely cracked the U.S. Top 40 in July 1973. By early 1974 he had charted his biggest hit, "Spiders and Snakes," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 that March. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in March 1974.
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Stafford continued to have moderate chart success through most of 1975.
In 1967 and 1968, Stafford performed regularly and served as head writer/producer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The Jim Stafford Show appeared on ABC in 1975. He appeared as well numerous times on music specials, variety shows, and talk shows. He was a frequent guest on the Tonight Show.
He co-hosted Those Amazing Animals with Burgess Meredith and Priscilla Presley, and also hosted 56 episodes of Nashville on the Road.
In 1976, Stafford guest starred in 2 episodes of the TV show Gemini Man, which were later combined into a television movie titled Riding with Death.
Stafford contributed to several movie soundtracks, including The Fox and The Hound and Any Which Way You Can, in which Stafford appeared. His work has been covered by George Jones and Jerry Reed. His second classical guitar album, Somewhere in Time appeared in March 2002.
Stafford has operated and performed at The Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri since the 1990s. His children accompany him on stage.
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