Paris was born and raised in Nutley, New Jersey, to an Italian-American family, where he attended Nutley High School.Burnap, Campbell. "Obituary: Jackie Paris", The Independent, June 25, 2004, backed up by the Internet Archive as of April 21, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2019. "Jackie Paris was born in Nutley, New Jersey, to an Italian family rather more interested in professional boxing than music. He graduated from the local high school two years ahead of the pianist Al Haig, but had already taken his first showbiz steps, as a juvenile song-and-dance act in vaudeville." His uncle Chick had been a guitarist with Paul Whiteman's orchestra. Paris was a popular child entertainer in vaudeville who shared the stage with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the Mills Brothers. He tap danced from his youth and into his years in the US Army.
