Tiny Tim was born 82 years ago today. Born as Herbert Khaury, he was a singer, ukulele player and musical archivist. He was most famous for his rendition of Tiptoe Through the Tulips sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice. Tiny Tim was born in Manhattan, the son of a Polish Jewish mother, Tillie (née Staff), a garment worker, and a Lebanese Catholic father, Butros Khaury, a textile worker. He displayed musical talent at a very young age. In a 1968 interview on The Tonight Show, Khaury described the discovery of his ability to sing in an upper register in 1952: I was listening to the radio and singing along as I was singing I said Gee, its strange. I can go up high as well. He then entered a local talent show and sang You Are My Sunshine in his newly discovered falsetto. He started using the stage name Tiny Tim in 1962 when his manager at the time, George King, booked him at a club that favored acts by performers short in stature. John Wayne and Tiny Tim help celebrate the 100th Laugh-In episode in 1971. Tiny Tim appeared in Jack Smiths Normal Love, as well as the independent feature film You Are What You Eat in which he sang the Ronettes song, Be My Baby in his falsetto range; also featured was a rendition of Sonny and Chers I Got You Babe, with Tim singing the Cher parts in his falsetto voice, along with Eleanor Barooshian singing Sonny Bonos baritone part. These tracks were recorded with musicians who would later go on to be in The Band. The latter performance led to a booking on the massively popular Rowan and Martins Laugh-In, an American television comedy-variety show. Co-host Dan Rowan announced that Laugh-In believed in showcasing new talent, and introduced Tiny Tim. The singer entered carrying a shopping bag, pulled his soprano ukulele from it, and sang a medley of A Tisket A Tasket and On the The Good Ship Lollipop as an apparently dumbfounded co-host Dick Martin watched. In his third performance on Laugh-In, Tiny Tim entered, blowing kisses, preceded by an elaborate procession of the cast, and after a short interview, sang Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” In 1968, his first album, God Bless Tiny Tim, was released. It contained an orchestrated version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips. which became a hit after being released as a single. For All My Little Friends, 1969, a collection of childrens songs was nominated for a Grammy Award. On December 17, 1969, with 21.4 million viewers watching, Tiny Tim married Victoria Mae Budinger (aka Miss Vicki) on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. During their marriage, Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki mostly lived apart, and divorced eight years later. When Tiny Tim first became well-known to the American public, pundits and journalists debated whether or not this character being presented was just an orchestrated act, or the real thing. It quickly became clear that he was genuine, however, and that he could probably be best described as a lonely outcast intoxicated by fame and a romantic always in pursuit of his ideal dream. After his career highlights, Tiny Tims television appearances dwindled, and his popularity began to wane. He continued to play around the United States, making several lucrative appearances in Las Vegas. When he lost his Reprise recording contract he founded his own record label, and humorously named it Vic Tim Records, as a pun on the combination of his wifes name with that of his own. In September 1996, Tiny Tim suffered a heart attack just as he began singing at a ukulele festival at the Montague Grange Hall (often confused in accounts of the incident with the nearby Montague Bookmill, at which he had recorded a video interview earlier that same day) in Montague, Massachusetts. He was hospitalized at the nearby Franklin County Medical Center in Greenfield for approximately three weeks, before being discharged with strong admonitions not to perform again because of his health and the dietary needs for his diabetic and heart conditions. Nevertheless, he ignored the advice. While playing at a Gala Benefit at The Womans Club of Minneapolis on November 30, he had a second heart attack on stage and he later died at the Hennepin County Medical Center. He was 64. Here, Tiny Tim appears on Laugh-In.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 06:47:09 +0000