Tiny Tim | |
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.jpg) Tiny Tim in 1969 | |
| Born | Herbert Butros Khaury (1932-04-12)April 12, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 30, 1996(1996-11-30) (aged 64) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. 44°56′9.92″N93°17′57.277″W / 44.9360889°N 93.29924361°W /44.9360889; -93.29924361 |
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| Children | 1 |
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| Years active | 1962–1996 |
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Musical artist | |
Herbert Butros Khaury[1][2] (April 12, 1932 – November 30, 1996), also known asHerbert Buckingham Khaury,[3] and known professionally asTiny Tim, was an American musician and musicalarchivist.[4] He is especially known for his 1968 hit recording of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", a cover of the popular song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me" from the 1929 musicalGold Diggers of Broadway. Tiny Tim was renowned for his wide vocal range, in particular his far-reachingfalsetto.[5]
Tiny Tim was born Herbert Khaury in Manhattan, New York City, on April 12, 1932.[1] His mother Tillie (née Staff), a Polish-Jewish garment worker, was the daughter of arabbi. She had immigrated fromBrest-Litovsk, present-day Belarus, as a teen in 1914. His father, Butros Khaury, was a textile worker fromBeirut, present-day Lebanon, and the son of aMaronite Catholic priest.[6][7][8] Tiny Tim himself was a devout Catholic.[9]
Khaury displayed an interest in music at a very young age. At the age of five, his father gave him a vintage wind-upgramophone and a 78-RPM record of "Beautiful Ohio" byHenry Burr. Khaury has passionately praised Burr, tellingJohnny Carson that "the wonderful Henry Burr's" circa-1915 records inspired his own singing style.[10] He would sit for hours listening to the record. At the age of six, he began teaching himself guitar. By his pre-teen years, he developed a passion for records, specifically those from the 1900s through the 1930s. He began spending most of his free time at theNew York Public Library, reading about the history of the phonograph industry and its first recording artists. He researched sheet music, often making photographic copies to take home to learn, a hobby he continued for his entire life.[11] He grew up in theWashington Heights neighborhood inManhattan, where he attendedGeorge Washington High School.[12]
In 1945, while recovering from appendix removal, he read the Bible and listened to music on the radio. After his recovery, he rarely left his room except to go to school, where he was described as a mediocre student. He dropped out of high school after continuously repeating his sophomore year, taking a series of menial jobs.[13] Around this time, he discovered he could sing in a high register while listening toRudy Vallée and taught himself to playukulele using anArthur Godfrey method book.[14] He would later describe this period of his life as a "religious experience".[13]
By the early 1950s, Tiny Tim had landed a job as a messenger at the New York office ofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where he became ever more fascinated with the entertainment industry. He then entered a local talent show and sang "You Are My Sunshine" in his newly discovered falsetto. He started performing at dance club amateur nights under different names, such as "Texarkana Tex", "Judas K. Foxglove", "Vernon Castle", and "Emmett Swink." To stand out as a performer, he wore wild clothing, grew his hair long and wore pasty white face makeup, partly inspired byRudolph Valentino.[15] His mother did not understand Herbert's change in appearance and was intending to take her now-twentysomething son to see a psychiatrist atBellevue Hospital until his father stepped in.[13]
In 1959, he performed as "Larry Love, the Singing Canary" at Hubert's Museum and Live Flea Circus in New York City'sTimes Square. While there, he signed with a manager who sent him on unpaid auditions throughoutGreenwich Village.[13] At this stage he began performing the song that would later become his signature, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". In 1963, he landed his first paid gig at Page 3, a lesbian-run club on the corner of Charles Street and Seventh Avenue,[16] playing six hours a night and six nights a week for $96 per month. For the next two years, he performed as "Dary Dover" and later "Sir Timothy Timms". After a show in which he was booked to follow a "midget" act, his manager George King decided to bill him as "Tiny Tim" - a name which stuck.[13][17]
Throughout the 1960s, Tiny Tim made numerous appearances in film and television. He had a cameo inJack Smith'sNormal Love from 1963. He also featured in 1968'sYou Are What You Eat, singingthe Ronettes' "Be My Baby" andSonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" as a duet withEleanor Barooshian, in which Tiny took the Cher part. This led to a booking on the comedy variety showRowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Co-hostDan Rowan announced thatLaugh-In "(believed) in showcasing new talent" before introducing Tiny Tim, who arrived on stage with a ukulele in a shopping bag and sang "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop" while an apparently genuinely dumbfoundedDick Martin watched.[18] He sang "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on both his second and third appearances on the show.[19][20]
His debutGod Bless Tiny Tim was released byReprise Records in 1968. "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was released as a single and reached No. 17 on theBillboard chart.Tiny Tim's 2nd Album followed in 1968, featuring a portrait of Tiny Tim and his parents on the cover. This was followed by 1969'sFor All My Little Friends, a collection of children's songs that received a 1970Grammy Award nomination.[21] Charting singles from this era included "Bring Back Those Rockabye Baby Days" at No. 95 and "Great Balls of Fire" at No. 85 in 1968 and 1969.[22]
During this era of Tiny's mass popularity, many pundits and journalists debated whether the "character" that Tiny Tim presented was just an orchestrated act or the real thing.[5]
On December 17, 1969, Tiny Tim married Miss Vicki onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with 40 million people watching.[23] At the time, this was one of the most watched television events ever.
After his career highlights in the late 1960s, Tiny Tim's television appearances dwindled, and his popularity began to wane. He continued to play concerts, making several lucrative appearances inLas Vegas. In August 1970, he performed "There'll Always Be an England" to an estimated 600,000 people at theIsle of Wight Festival 1970. The UK press announced that he had stolen the show "without a single electric instrument".[24]
In 1973, at the beginning of a tour, a driver who suffered a heart attack crashed into Tiny Tim's van, severely injuring Tim and leaving him with a collapsed lung and several broken ribs. Tim would spend four months in the hospital and the lack of funds from Tim's lack of touring resulted in Tim's then manager parting ways with Tim.[25]
When his recording contract ended withReprise, he founded his own record label and named it Vic Tim Records, as a pun on the combination of his wife's name with that of his own.Tiny Tim, a biography byHarry Stein, was published in 1976 by Playboy Press.
In January 1979, Australian artistMartin Sharp brought Tiny Tim toLuna Park in Sydney, Australia to set the world record for the longest non-stop professional singing marathon. This was the culmination of a longstanding collaboration between Tiny Tim and Sharp, who had been openly obsessed with him for years, bringing him to Australia several times, producing his recordings and painting his portrait over and over in different styles. The marathon performance was filmed by Sharp's camera crew and ran for over two hours and seventeen minutes, successfully setting a world record.[26]
When the1979 Ghost Train fire occurred at Luna Park five months later, Sharp became convinced that the fire was in some way theologically linked to Tiny Tim's performance and also set out to prove it was deliberately lit as anarson attempt. All of this became the basis for the filmStreet of Dreams, which serves as both a biography of Tiny Tim and an exploration of Luna Park and the fire. Sharp never finished editingStreet of Dreams in his lifetime and the film remains incomplete, though a rough cut was released for film festival screenings in 1988 and that version continues to circulate online.[27][28][29]
Sharp went on to produce many of Tiny Tim's later records includingRock,Chameleon andKeeping My Troubles to Myself, and also brought Tiny Tim to perform in Australia several more times throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His all-consuming fixation on Tiny Tim, Luna Park and the fire continued until his death in 2013.
In 2014, standalone footage of the complete marathon performance was released on streaming services asThe Non-Stop Luna Park Marathon by Planet Blue Pictures.[30] As of 2023, it can be viewed for free on Vimeo.[31]
A large mural of Tiny Tim with tulip themes painted by Sharp hangs in theMacquarie University Student Council.[32]
Tiny Tim was married three times. He had one daughter from his first marriage to then-17-year-old Victoria Budinger – whom he called "Miss Vicki" – at age 37.[12] Tiny Tim and Victoria Budinger divorced eight years later.[33] Budinger subsequently had several marriages.[34][35] He married Jan Alweiss ("Miss Jan") in 1984, and Susan Marie Gardner ("Miss Sue") in 1995.[36] Gardner was a 39-year-old Harvard graduate and a fan of Tim's since she was 12.[37]
On September 28, 1996, Khaury recorded a video interview at theMontague Bookmill. He later suffered a heart attack at a ukulele festival at the nearby Montague Grange Hall inMontague, Massachusetts. He was hospitalized at the nearbyFranklin County Medical Center inGreenfield for approximately three weeks before being discharged with strong admonitions not to perform again because of his health, weight, and dietary needs for his diabetic and heart conditions. He ignored the advice.
On November 30, 1996, Khaury was playing at a gala benefit hosted by the Women's Club of Minneapolis. He had let his third wife ("Miss Sue") know before the show that he was not feeling well, but did not want to disappoint his fans. Before the start of his performance, most of the audience had left. In the middle of performing his last number of the evening — a rendition of his hit, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" — he suffered another heart attack on stage. His wife asked him if he was feeling all right, and he said he was not; she was helping him back to their table where he collapsed, and never regained consciousness.[38]EMTs performed on-siteCPR and transported him toHennepin County Medical Center, where after repeated revival attempts, he was pronounced dead at 11:20 pm.[39][5] His remains are entombed in amausoleum inLakewood Cemetery inMinneapolis.
In 2000, theRhino Handmade label released the posthumousTiny Tim Live at the Royal Albert Hall. This recording had been made in 1968 at the height of Tiny Tim's fame, but Reprise Records never released it. The limited-number CD sold out and was reissued on Rhino's regular label. In 2009, theCollector's Choice label releasedI've Never Seen a Straight Banana: Rare Moments Vol. 1, produced and recorded byRichard Barone in 1976. The album was a collection of rare recordings of some of Tiny Tim's favorite songs from 1878 through the 1930s, along with some of his own compositions.
In 2009, it was reported that Justin Martell was preparing a biography of Tiny Tim,[40] released in 2016 under the titleEternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim. Martell is called one of America's "foremost experts"[41] on Tiny Tim; he contributed liner notes toI've Never Seen a Straight Banana[42] and the 2011 Tiny Tim compilation LPTiny Tim: Lost & Found 1963–1974 (Rare & Unreleased), released on Secret Seven Records.[43]
In 2013, a biography of Tiny Tim was released in two editions.Tiny Tim: Tiptoe Through A Lifetime was released July 16, 2013, and is by Lowell Tarling (author) and Martin Sharp (illustrator). Ship To Shore PhonoCo followed upLost & Found Vol 1 with aVol 2 featuring Tiny Tim's 1974 live recording of "(Nobody Else Can Love Me Like) My Old Tomato Can" on a limited edition wax cylinder.[44]
In 2016, Ship To Shore PhonoCo releasedTiny Tim's America, a collection of demos recorded by Tiny Tim in 1974 and finished in 2015 with overdubs overseen by producer Richard Barone and Tiny Tim's cousin Eddie Rabin. The album was subtitled "Rare Moments Vol. 2" and was presented as a spiritual sequel to 2009'sI've Never Seen A Straight Banana: Rare Moments Vol 1.[45]
In 2020, Swedish journalist and documentary film-makerJohan von Sydow released the documentary filmTiny Tim: King for a Day.[46]
Tiny Tim was honored with a star on the outside mural of theMinneapolis nightclubFirst Avenue,[47] recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue.[48] Journalist Steve Marsh remarked that receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis."[49]
Tiny Tim, whose quavery falsetto and ukulele madeTiptoe Through the Tulips With Me a novelty hit in 1968, died on Saturday night at theHennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He was 64 and had lived in Minneapolis for the past year. The cause of death apparently was cardiac arrest, a nursing supervisor, Ellen Lafans, told TheAssociated Press. He had been in poor health of late, and collapsed onstage after suffering a heart attack while performing at a ukulele festival in western Massachusetts in September.
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