James Oswald Little, AO (1 March 1937 – 2 April 2012) was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales.

Little started his professional career in 1951, as a singer-songwriter and guitarist, which spanned six decades. For many years he was the main Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene. His music was influenced by Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and American country music artist Jim Reeves. His gospel song "Royal Telephone" (1963) sold over 75,000 copies, and his most popular album, Messenger, peaked at No. 26 in 1999 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999, Little was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and won an ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. On Australia Day (26 January) 2004, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia with the citation, "For service to the entertainment industry as a singer, recording artist and songwriter and to the community through reconciliation and as an ambassador for Indigenous culture".

As an actor, he appeared in the films Shadow of the Boomerang (1960) and Until the End of the World (1991), in the theatre production Black Cockatoos and in the opera Black River. As a teacher, from 1985, he worked at the Eora Centre in Redfern and from 2000 was a guest lecturer at the University of Sydney's Koori Centre.

Little was a diabetic with a heart condition and, in 2004, had a kidney transplant. After his transplant he established the Jimmy Little Foundation to promote indigenous health and diet. On 2 April 2012, Little died at his home in Dubbo, aged 75 years.

James Oswald Little was born on 1 March 1937, a member of the Yorta Yorta people with his mother, Frances, a Yorta Yorta woman and his father, James Little Sr, from the Yuin people. Little's totem is the long-necked turtle. Jimmy Little Sr. was a tap dancer, comedian, musician and singer who led his own vaudeville troupe along the Murray River during the 1930s and 1940s. His mother was a singer and yodeller who had joined Jimmy Sr.'s troupe.

Little grew up, the eldest of seven children, on the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve on the Murray River in New South Wales, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Echuca in Victoria. Little later recalled his upbringing, "[my parents] taught me well about the value of life, freedom, love, respect, all those basic things that we need. As Vaudevillians, I loved them. It was part of my dream to follow in the footsteps of Mum and Dad. And I'm so proud that I was able to do that". He became a devout non-denominational Christian. He is an uncle of writer, soprano, and composer Deborah Cheetham and older brother of the late Aboriginal author and singer-songwriter Betty Little. In February 1939, about 200 to 300 members of the mission participated in the Cummeragunja walk-off – in protest at the low standard of living conditions. The Little family moved to his father's tribal land (near Wallaga Lake) and lived for some years on the New South Wales south coast at Nowra and Moruya.

Not long after moving, Frances died from a tetanus infection after cutting her finger on an oyster shell. At the age of 13, Little was given a guitar and within a year he was playing at local concerts. When 16 years old he travelled to Sydney to perform on a radio programme, Australia's Amateur Hour. In 1955 Little left home to live in Sydney and pursue a career in country music, his mellow style earned him the nicknames of "the Balladeer", "Gentleman Jim" and "the Honey Voice".