Tiny Tim
b. Herbert Khaury, 12 April 1925, New York, USA. Eccentric entertainer Tiny Tim played regularly on the New York Greenwich Village circuit during the early/mid-60s. With his warbling voice, long scraggly hair and camp mannerisms, he specialized in show tunes dating back to the musicals of the '20s. Following an appearance in the film You Are What You Eat, he secured a regular spot on the highly rated Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In comedy series. The comic incongruity of this middle-aged man, who sang in a cracked falsetto and played the ukulele proved novel enough to warrant a Top 20 US hit in 1968 with Tiptoe Through The Tulips With Me. Several albums and tours followed and at the height of his media fame he attracted a mass audience for his live television marriage on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show to the young girl he called ‘Miss Vicky’ (Victoria May Budinger). His professed celibacy and highly moral sexual standpoint created instant copy and the controversial marriage was well chronicled, from the birth of baby Tulip, to the divorce court. By the early '70s the Tiny Tim fad had passed, and having lost his contract with Reprise Records he continued to issue singles on small independent labels, to little success. In the late '80s Tim completed a cassette-only release, THE WORLD'S LONGEST NON-STOP SINGING RECORD, which was recorded live in Brighton, England. He subsequently moved to Australia where he became acquainted with graphic artist Martin Sharp, who designed Cream's distinctive WHEELS OF FIRE sleeve as well as several covers of Oz magazine. Sharp's work graced TINY TIM ROCKS, a disappointing melange of the singer's high falsetto and ill-fitting hard rock. In 1989 his version of AC/DC's Highway To Hell was released to modest sales. During the '90s the singer returned to the USA to live in Des Moines, Iowa, ‘because it's clean.’