Maxwell Boyce, MBE, (born 7 September 1945 in Glynneath) is a Welsh comedian, singer and former coal miner. He rose to fame in the United Kingdom during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales. Having sold more than two million albums in a career spanning four decades, and playing to full houses all around the world, Boyce is one of the most successful and enduring entertainers in Welsh history. Max Boyce has always lived in the town of Glynneath, but his family were originally from Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley. Within days of Boyce's birth, his father died in an explosion in the coal pit where he was working. At the age of fifteen, Boyce left school, went to live with his grandfather, and followed his father's footsteps by working in a colliery "for nearly eight years". In his early twenties, he managed to find work in a factory instead, but his earlier mining experiences were to influence his music considerably in later years.