The peculiar Tiny Tim was born 91 years ago today

Tiny Tim is still best remembered for his cover of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”

The peculiar Tiny Tim was born 91 years ago today



Herbert Buckingham Khaury, known as Tiny Tim, was born on April 12, 1932 in Manhattan, New York. Tiny Tim displayed musical talent at a very young age. At the age of five, his father gave him a vintage wind up Gramophone and a 78 RPM record of “Beautiful Ohio” by Henry Burr. 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 the New York Public Library, reading about the history of the phonograph industry and its first recording artists. He would research sheet music, often making photographic copies to take home to learn, a hobby he continued for his entire life. In 1963 he landed his first paying gig at Page 3, a gay and lesbian club in Greenwich Village, playing 6 hours a night, 6 nights a week, for $96 per month. He performed for the next two years as “Dary Dover”, and after that, “Sir Timothy Timms”. His manager gave him the name of Tiny Tim ironically due to his tall height of 6′ 1″ (185 cm). Tim’s trademark was his mandolin, ukulele and falsetto voice, and, this was what first caught the mainstream public attention to him. 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) was a collection of children’s songs and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Oddly, in an era where Psychedelic Rock dominated the charts and musical tastes of youth worldwide, Tiny Tim became himself one of the most appreciated performers by the young crowds and he even opened for some acts such as The Doors back in the late 1960’s. Tiny Tim is still best remembered for his cover hits “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” and “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight” all sung in his unique high falsetto/vibrato voice. Tiny Tim died on November 30, 1996 in Hennepin County, Minnesota, U.S.from a cardiac arrest shortly after playing a last performance.

Listen to Tiny Tim’s 1968 unusual hit “Tiptoe Through The Tulips”



Remember Tiny Tim by watching him performing in 1968 his famous version of Tiptoe Through The Tulips” on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”

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