Humble, classy and thankful, this locally recognized singer tells his story of how he became one of Boothbay’s most enjoyed talents.

“I grew up in New York, in the Bronx,” Jim LaValle explained while sitting at a table by the sea in East Boothbay’s Ocean Point Inn and Restaurant. “I’m just a summer resident of Boothbay Harbor. I would work and ski up at Sugarloaf in the winter and come down here and work in the summer.”

Once a line chef in the kitchen, at what is now Mine Oyster and formerly known as J.H. Hawke, this city native has always been grateful to our small coastal community. “This is where it all began for me, in Boothbay Harbor. I received a lot of encouragement from the people in the town,” LaValle said.

LaValle was fond of singing while working behind the scenes in kitchens for most of his life and that’s how he was “discovered.”

“I kind of came into it a little accidentally, I mean I always sang but I never sang in public or anything and one night I was overheard singing in the kitchen at J.H. Hawke by jazz piano player Mark Rosier who was playing that night. I didn’t know he had walked in, I thought I was alone. I turned around and he said, ‘We gotta get you up there in front of people.’ We worked up a couple of songs after hours one night and I worked up the nerve a few days later to get up there in front of people and do it.”

LaValle was “bit by the bug.” After a few late-night rehearsals on the pier, LaValle said good-bye to his apron and stepped up to the mic.

“The first song I ever sang in public was ‘Beyond The Sea’ by Bobby Darren,” LaValle recalled with a smile.

Singing the American standards from his father’s generation, this Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett-inspired jazz performer continues to entertain in restaurants throughout the Boothbay region.

“I’ve always been in restaurants. I enjoy just being a background singer adding to the ambiance rather than being the all-eyes-on-me onstage performer.”

You can hear and experience his jazz music while enjoying a meal at the Ocean Point Inn on Thursday nights or twice a month at The Whale’s Tale Seafarer’s Pub in Boothbay Harbor.