Billy Bass Junior

Big Mouth Billy Bass is an Animatronic singing prop resembling a Largemouth Bass popular in the late 90's and early 2000's. The fish is made of rubber stretched over a mechanical frame at first glance it closely resembles a mounted fish. Designed by Gemmy Industries it turns its head outwards and then wiggles on its trophy plaque and sings kitschy cover songs such as "Don't Worry Be Happy" (the music was taken from the original Bobby McFerrin recording) and "Take Me To The River" by Al Green (the recording was arranged and produced for Gemmy Industries by Al Thomas of Designer Music). The singing mechanism was originally activated by a motion sensor and was originally intended to startle a passerby. Eventually a button was added to activate it. There have also been several copycat toys based on it featuring various animals such as Rainbow Trout catfish lobsters fish bones and even the great white shark often featuring the voice of soul singer Shirley Ellis instead of Al Green. Some of these were created by Gemmy Industries for example "Travis the Freshwater Trout" but many were created by other companies. The concept was also adapted into a large mounted deer head.