Jim Stafford was born in Winter Haven in 1944. As a teenager, he played in a band with future legendary musicians Bobby Braddock, Kent LaVoie, and Gram Parsons. Stafford wrote and recorded his first chart-making song, The Swamp Witch in 1977 and followed that with the gold single, Spiders and Snakes, which stayed on the American pop charts for 26 weeks. His other musical hits include My Girl Bill, Wildwood Weed, and the satirical song, Cow Patti, written for the Clint Eastwood movie, Any Which Way You Can, in which Stafford appeared in 1980.
Stafford launched his television career with The Jim Stafford Show on ABC in 1975. His numerous television appearances included music specials, variety shows, and talk shows. Stafford hosted 56 episodes of Nashville on the Road and made 26 appearances on the Tonight Show. In 1987 & 1988, he was a regular performer and head writer/producer for the Emmy-nominated Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He has worked with Joan Rivers, Tina Turner, Sammy Davis Jr., Bruce Springsteen, and Glenn Campbell, among many others.
Stafford earned a gold record for his work in the Disney movie, The Fox and The Hound, but his first love has always been the live performance. This led him to Branson, Missouri, where he entertained visitors for 24 years at the Jim Stafford Theatre. Stafford was inducted into the Polk County Schools Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017.
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