Cosmic Harmony
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Good god! Has she lost her mind? Posting a thread for Tiny Tim?!
No, I've not gone mad.
I promise you that there is quite a bit more to Tiny Tim than a ukulele and an "irritating" falsetto. Follow me along this thread and I promise you that you'll see that Tiny was actually quite an interesting fellow.Born Herbert B. Khaury, Tiny Tim was born in Manhattan in 1932. When he was five years old his father brought home a gramophone and a 1905 copy of the song "Beautiful Ohio" by Henry Burr. This is the event that sparked Tiny's love for classic American pop songs. As he grew up he dove further into the music of the early 1900's and began to sing and play the ukulele as well as perform. He originally sang in his natural baritone voice, but wasn't until the early 50's that Tiny learned he had a very special gift.
According to Tiny he was singing along with the radio one day in 1952 and thought "Gee, it's strange. I can go up high as well.". At a local talent show he debuted his newly found falsetto singing style in his rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" and electrified the crowd. At this point he'd been going through a number of stage names such as Darry Dover, Vernon Castle, Larry Love, and Judas K. Foxglove, but after discovering his distinctively high falsetto he settled on the name of Tiny Tim as he thought it was highly perplexing for a tall man with long red hair to be called "Tiny" even if he was playing a ukulele and singing in very high falsetto
Throughout the 50's and 60's Tiny Tim earned a very unique cult following through his choice of repertoire and his encyclopedic knowledge of classic pop songs. He would gain his first mainstream exposure through an appearance on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" (a unique variety show that I was always looking for new, unusual acts). For his performance on the show Tiny came out speaking in an effeminate falsetto and blowing kisses to the crowd before playing a well received rendition of "Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips" to a very amused Dick Clark. Tiny would make several more appearances on "Laugh-In" as well as several other variety shows where at the height of his popularity he was earning $50,000 a week.
In 1968, after performing for some 20 year Tiny Tim finally recorded his debut album "God Bless Tiny Tim", the title being a reference to "A Christmas Carol" as well as Tiny being a devout Catholic. The opening track to his debut was his rendition of "Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips" which was a hit single reaching the top 20 in both the UK and the US. Because of it's success it also became Tiny's signature song. The album also displayed Tiny's vocal range by exhibiting his nature baritone voice in a number of songs, some of which like "Daddy, Daddy, What Is Heaven Like?" and "I Got You, Babe" he sang in a duet with himself, one part being in falsetto and the other being baritone. Following the release of this album Tiny was unexpectedly embraced by the psychedelic and hippie community, which gave him a very solid flow of popularity.
The following year he released the album "For All My Little Friends" which was nominated for a Grammy. Later that year he got married to his girlfriend of several years, Victoria Mae Budinger better known as "Miss Viki", on the Tonight Show and this particular episode gather between 40 and 50 million viewers. The couple announced a month later that they were expecting a child. Unfortunately the baby was miscarried, but a subsequent baby girl, Tulip Victoria, was born healthily. Tiny and Miss Vikki lived apart for much of their marriage and would end up getting divorced 8 years later.
At the absolute peak of his popularity Tiny Tim played at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before over 600,000 people. His set consisted of many folk and rock and roll classics and was climaxed with him singing "There'll Always Be an England" through a megaphone, which brought the entire crowd to its feet in a unified swaying of arms and singing. This performance was immortalized in the documentary of the festival "Message to Love" and it's soundtrack.
Following his appearance at the Isles of Wight Tiny Tim's television appearances slowed to a halt an his popularity drastically waned. Throughout the 80's Tiny had several health problems and released only a handful of singles and two albums over the course of the decade. Of the little material he put out in the 80's he covered several popular rock songs of the day such as "I Love Rock N' Roll", "Cum On Feel The Noize", "Highway To Hell", "Stairway To Heaven", and "Another Brick In the Wall Part II". When asked in interviews if his ventures into hard rock and heavy metal covers was an attempt to stay relevant and up to date he would answer that he has always watched the pop charts, always being aware of what's in the top 20, and loved every one of the songs that was there. He was simply doing what he'd always done whether that meant playing a song that was a #1 hit in 1944 or playing a song that reached #1 in 1979.
In the 90's however Tiny's popularity some some resurgence and there was once again public interest in him following several tongue in cheek television commercials and appearances he made, some of his more famous ones being on the Howard Stern show, which came to an abrupt end when Tiny stormed out on Howard for insulting Jesus and his religious views.
In September,1996 Tiny Tim suffered a heart attack at a ukulele festival in Montague, Massachusetts. This was in a way foreshadowed but a number of health problems that Tiny had had for years such as diabetes and more recently severe sleep problems. He was diagnosed with heart failure and hospitalized for 3 weeks. Upon being released he was urged strongly by doctors not to perform anymore because in his frail condition it was a strong possibility that he could die on stage if he did. Following this brush with death Tiny returned to Minneapolis, which is where his house was and where his then wife Susan Marie Gardner, aka "Miss Sue" (whom he had married the year before) stayed while he was touring. After several months Tiny went against the doctors orders played three small shows in Minneapolis. These would be his last performances. The third of these performances was at The Woman's Club of Minneapolis and Tiny struggled to get through his set and over the course of the show his face went absolutely pale and he shook horribly. He closed the show with his signature song "Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips", the very song that made him a star 30 years before, and this would be the last song Tiny Tim would ever play. His wife ran on stage immediately following his set to see if he was ok and when asked he answered "No I'm not." and then collapsed. Those would be his last words. Tiny Tim was rushed to the closest hospital and doctors unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him for an hour and fifteen minutes. Tiny Tim died with his wife at his side at the Hennepin County Medical Center on November 30, 1996.
(This video goes into much much more detail on Tiny Tim's final days and the events that happened during them)
While often regarded as nothing more than a novelty act, particularly past his peak in popularity in 1970, Tiny Tim had a deep passion for music of all sorts that was truly exhibited by the very broad range of music in his repertoire and his deep love for performing that ultimately ended his life sooner than it would have otherwise. Outside of music and on a more personal level, he was a very polite and kind individual that never had an unkind thing said about him from people who had the opportunity to talk to him.
Alice Beak lol
