by James Harvey

Created on: January 25, 2010

The guy could seemingly sell anything.  He could  'sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo', as the old cliche' goes. He could  cause consumers to want something that they never previously wanted or realized they needed and next thing you knew, he had people buying that product. His loud, booming voice in effect became a household staple in many American homes.  Billy  Mays would become known as "The King of The Info-mercials".

William Darrell Mays, Jr. was born on July 20, 1958, in McKees  Rock,  Pennsylvania.  He was the son of William Darrell Mays, Sr. and Joyce Palm Mays.  Later on, he was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he basically grew up.  He attended Sto-Rox High School and later he attended West Virginia University, where he acquired fame as a linebacker on its football team.  But Billy later dropped out and for a time worked at his father's hazardous waste company before he  moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1983.

Around the mid-80s Billy got involved in the sales business, selling  Washmatik  washing machines to passersby on the Atlantic City boardwalk.  At first, he was something of a flop; he wasn't getting anywhere until he began to watch the older, experienced hucksters.  As he later acnowledged when he became a celebrity " I  was taught to pitch by a by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have."   By the late 1980s-early 90s he had graduated to homeshows, selling virtually everything from  maintainance products and tools to cleaning products and food choppers.

In 1993, Billy developed a friendship with his rival, Max Appel, who was the founder of Orange-Glo International, who just invented a new, powerful cleaning product known as "Orange-Glo".  He was hired to be one of the company's promoters.  In 1993, many people were beginning to hearing of a new commercial innovation called "info-mercials", which was more than just  ordinary television commercials.  By its very definition, it  provided extensive  information and demonstrations about various products, hence its name.

Billy Mays would turn Orange-Glo products into virtual household items as well as household words.   He introduced such products as Oxi-Clean, Orange Clean, and Ka-boom, which was introduced on the then-new Home Shopping Network in  St. Petersberg, Florida around 1995.

On his very first day on the  TV

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