<P> The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend . The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party . Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians . The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being a type of corn bread . It was never recorded in this form . </P> <P> Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir . Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it . </P> <P> Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it . It was recorded in 1956 for his album An Evening with Belafonte . An edited version was subsequently released as a single, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1957 . It was the first single to sell over one million copies in the UK alone . To date, Belafonte's version has sold over 1.19 million copes . In 1962 . the full - length version was added to a re-issue of Belafonte's previously released album To Wish You a Merry Christmas . </P> <P> The song was also recorded by Mahalia Jackson in 1956 but titled "Mary's Little Boy Child". </P>

Who sang mary's boy child in 1957