Katherine Kennicott Davis (June 25,1892- April 20,1980) was a composer, pianist and author of the famous Christmas tune “The Little Drummer Boy.”

She was born in St. Joseph, Missouri and composed her first piece of music, “Shadow March,” at the age of 15. She graduated from Central High School in 1910, and studied music at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Davis taught at several schools and wrote over 600 musical compositions of which many were written for the choirs at her school. She wrote “The Little Drummer Boy” in 1941 and continued writing music until the winter of 1979-1980. Davis died at the age of 87, in Littleton, Massachusetts. She left all of the royalties and proceeds from her compositions, which include operas, choruses, children’s operettas, cantatas, piano and organ pieces, and songs, to Wellesley College’s Music Department. The funds are used to support musical instrument instruction.