R.I.P. Billy Mays, King of Pitchmen

“Hi, Billy Mays here!”
For years, that was the opening line for scores of commercials featuring the king of pitchmen.

Mays was born July 20, 1958 in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and began his career as salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. In Altantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have." He traveled across the United States for 12 years, selling various items at fairs and tradeshows. At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International cleaning products. He was hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom on the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. Customer response to Mays' sales pitches was enthusiastic, with a sharp increase in sales after his first day on the network.

While Mays always insisted that he was simply "projecting," and not shouting, he became well known for his loud and excited manner during infomercials. For example, Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown." Billy's style made him famous across the world and helped the direct response advertising industry sell billions in products. Inventors frequently brought their ideas to Mays in hopes that they could work with him to bring their product to market. Many recent examples of this can be found in the Discovery Channel program Pitchmen, a documentary show starring Billy which premiered shortly before his death.

On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays was found dead in his home by his wife. It was initially believed that Mays may have suffered a fatal injury after hitting his head during a flight the previous evening. This was later ruled out and heart disease is now believed to be the cause.

Billy Mays will always be remembered as the King of Pitchmen

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