Billy Todd

Background

Billy Todd was born on September 26, 1929 in Sylacauga, Alabama to the late Cecil and Bessie Todd.

Career

Early Years and Personal Billy was saved in 1946 at the First Freewill Baptist Church in Sylacauga, Alabama. They have two children, David and Robin. David and Sandy have three kids: Ben, Brandon, and Savannah.

Robin resides in Pensacola.

Billy started singing with his family at the age of eight. In 1942, he sang with a group from his church called the Freewill Four.

He remembers that they opened a concert for the John Daniel Quartet and he made five dollars! In 1946, he started singing with a group in his hometown called the Sylacauga Melody Boys. Then he sang in a barbershop quartet along with Jim Nabors.

The Florida Boys hired Billy in January 1959.

Billy then left the Florida Boys in 1972 to become the principal at Berean Christian School in Pensacola (a school started by Billy"s father-in-law, Doctor BH McWaters). When the Dixie Echoes were looking for a bass singer in 1996, Randy Shelnut called Billy to see if he would fill in. Billy Todd joined the Dixie Echoes on May 11, 1996.

Foreign many years, he was honored with a Billy Todd Day concert in his hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama.

In 1999, he was inducted along with the Florida Boys Quartet into the Gospel Music Hall Of Fame. Death

He died the morning of November 30, 2008 after a long battle against Alzheimer"son

Achievements

• By the end of his tenure with the Florida Boys, he was one of the most popular performers in Southern Gospel music, winning the Singing News Fan Awards for Favorite Bass Singer the first two years it was awarded (1971 and 1972). In addition to Billy winning the above-mentioned Singing News Fan Awards for Favorite Bass Singer, in 1994 at the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion, Billy received the Living Legend Award.

Membership

Then in Pensacola, he became a member of Berean Baptist Church, where he met the church pianist, Jane McWaters.