Gayla Peevey – born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 8, 1943 – is a former child star and singer best known for the classic 1953 Christmas novelty hit “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”. She grew up in a religious household and began singing in church. Her musical career began at the age of 8 years old when her uncle, who played fiddle on a radio program in Oklahoma City, brought her to one of the shows to perform. Her appearance turned into a bi-weekly gig on the shows The Chuck Wagon Gang and The Boomer Shindig. She became a popular local television attraction and began to tour and perform. NBC moved Peevey and her family to Hollywood to perform as a regular on Saturday Night Review with Hoagy Carmichael. It was there that she signed a record deal with Columbia Records and released her debut single, “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas”. The single became a huge holiday hit in 1953 when she was only 10 years old. She released a further eight singles over the next five years, but none of them had the same success as her debut single. In 1959, at the age of 16, she began recording under the name Jamie Horton. Her most successful single under this pseudonym, “Robot Man”, was released in 1960. Her last release – under the Horton name – was the 1962 single “Go Shout It From a Mountain”. Peevey became a teacher and eventually moved into advertising, running her own company for 15 years.
