Biography
Jim Weiss ranks among the rare children’s performers willing to appear onstage equipped solely with his voice. That instrument, sometimes gentle and sometimes captivating, has captivated millions of young listeners via both recordings and live performances. His narrative choices, particularly the material he elects to present, earned numerous honors and established him among the decade’s top-selling storytellers.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Weiss relocated to Los Angeles intending to work as a public school teacher. While there he also planned to compose and perform songs part-time, yet he and his wife Randy found the city’s rapid tempo intolerable. Consequently the Weiss family relocated to northern California.
For years Weiss had already been recounting tales to his daughter Danna. In 1989 he therefore invested his remaining $12,000 in launching Greathall Productions. He immediately began capturing both original and classic stories—including “The Knights of the Roundtable” and “The Three Musketeers”—and distributing the resulting recordings to independent bookstores and children’s record shops.
Over the next eight years Weiss completed nineteen full-length albums, among them King Arthur and His Knights, Sherlock Holmes for Children, and Shakespeare for Children. During that period he collected nearly every major accolade, such as the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Audio, Parent’s Choice Gold, and repeated American Library Association awards. In 1998 he and his family moved once more, this time to Virginia.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Weiss relocated to Los Angeles intending to work as a public school teacher. While there he also planned to compose and perform songs part-time, yet he and his wife Randy found the city’s rapid tempo intolerable. Consequently the Weiss family relocated to northern California.
For years Weiss had already been recounting tales to his daughter Danna. In 1989 he therefore invested his remaining $12,000 in launching Greathall Productions. He immediately began capturing both original and classic stories—including “The Knights of the Roundtable” and “The Three Musketeers”—and distributing the resulting recordings to independent bookstores and children’s record shops.
Over the next eight years Weiss completed nineteen full-length albums, among them King Arthur and His Knights, Sherlock Holmes for Children, and Shakespeare for Children. During that period he collected nearly every major accolade, such as the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Audio, Parent’s Choice Gold, and repeated American Library Association awards. In 1998 he and his family moved once more, this time to Virginia.
Albums