April 2004 ~ Featuring Billy Todd
Since I started writing this article, they have all been about friends that are close to my age. Well, I have a friend that I travel with every week that was fifty-one years old when I was born! This month I would like to feature that friend. Gospel music fans know him as Billy Todd, but I thought that it would be interesting to everyone that his real name is Carl Milton Todd. Still haven't figured out how he got the nickname "Billy".

Billy Todd was born on September 26, 1929. His parents are the late Cecil and Bessie Todd. He has one brother, Edward, and one sister, Gladys. On June 1, 1947, Billy married Jane McWaters. They have two kids, David and Robin. Their son David and his wife Sandy live in Phoenix, Arizona. David and Sandy have three kids: Ben, Brandon, and Savannah. Billy is originally from Sylacauga, Alabama, but he and his wife Jane reside in Pensacola, Florida.

Billy was saved in 1946 at the First Freewill Baptist Church in Sylacauga, Alabama. Billy and Jane are members of Lawton Street Baptist Church in Pensacola, where Jane is the church pianist. Billy collects coins and coffee mugs from all of the different states. Billy credits Big Jim Waits and Arnold Hyles as his biggest influences.

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, who we all know as Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith Show. The Florida Boys hired Billy in January of 1958. 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 Rev. B.H. 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, and Billy jokes by saying that he's still filling in. Billy enjoys getting to meet and fellowship with friends all across the country.

Each year he is honored with a Billy Todd Day held each year in his hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama. Billy won the first two Singing News Fan Awards for Favorite Bass Singer. In 1994, at the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion, Billy received the Living Legend Award. In 1999, he was inducted along with the Florida Boys Quartet into the Gospel Music Hall Of Fame.

Billy Todd is a living legend and is it an honor to step on stage with him every week and to call him a close friend of mine! If there is one word that I can use to describe Billy, it's "Genuine". Just ask anyone who knows anything about Gospel Music, and they will agree. Billy Todd has always been a fan favorite because he can always be found mingling with the fans. His humble spirit and desire to befriend everyone is a quality that I really admire. I could go on and on about how I respect him, but I'll just sum this article up in saying that Billy Todd is a dear friend and a roll model, and I hope that I can share the stage with him for many years to come!