by Rose Spotts

Created on: July 28, 2008

What would four in the morning be without Billy Mays and his infomercials? "Hi, I'm Billy Mays!" is almost something you expect to hear on those nights when you just can't sleep. So just where does this OxiClean and Orange Glo superhero come from?

He comes from Pittsburgh.

Billy Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, which is right outside of Pittsburgh. His career as a salesman began shortly after he graduated from high school. He started out selling "Washmatik", the portable washing appliance in Atlantic City on the boardwalk. During this time he was able to learn from many experienced salesmen, which allowed him to develop his own trademark style. Once he got his feet wet and had time to hone in on his craft, he started to travel to home shows, auto shows, state fairs and other events across the United States. He travelled and sold many types of maintenance products such as food choppers, tools and cleaning products for 12 years.

It was at a home show back in Pittsburgh in 1993 though when Mays encountered a rival salesman named Max Appel, who founded Orange Glo International. The two men became friends and Appel ended up hiring Mays for his Denver based company and set him up to be the salesmen for his product on The Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida, selling the entire line of Orange Glo cleaners including OxiClean, Orange Clean and Orange Glo. In only one day Mays managed to impress customers enough with his style of salesmanship that it impressed the network.

His success on the Home Shopping Network brought about a line of successful television infomercials and other commercials for Orange Glo's products. This success put Orange Glo International in the top ten privately growing companies from 1999-2001 by Inc. Magazine.

Since then Mays has become the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based in Dunedin, Florida. His services as a pitchman have been some of the most highly sought-after, and he has appeared in commercials for many diverse "as seen on TV" products. Mays has been dubbed the "King of Infomercials". It no doubt helps him quite a bit that he claims to use the products he promotes.

He has also taken up the job as the voice for the iCan Benefit Group, which is a Health Insurance company. These promotions started in May of 2008. No longer living in Pittsburgh, Mays now resides in Florida.

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