Tiny Tim (musician)

Early years

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 a rabbi. She had emigrated from Brest-Litovsk, present-day Belarus, as a teen in 1914. His father, Butros Khaury, was a textile worker from Beirut, present-day Lebanon, and the son of a Maronite Catholic priest.^[6][7][8] Tiny Tim himself was a Roman 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-up gramophone and a 78-RPM record of "Beautiful Ohio" by Henry Burr. Khaury has passionately praised Burr, telling Johnny 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 the New York Public Library, reading about the history of the phonograph industry.^[11] He researched sheet music, often making photographic copies to take home to learn, a hobby he continued for his entire life. He grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan, where he attended George Washington High School.^[12]

In 1945, while recovering from appendix removal, Khaury 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, while listening to Rudy Vallée, he discovered he could sing in a high register. He taught himself to play ukulele using an Arthur Godfrey method book.^[14] He would later describe this period of his life as a "religious experience".^[13]

The Singing Canary

By the early 1950s, Tiny Tim had landed a job as a messenger at the New York office of Metro-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 by Rudolph 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 at Bellevue 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's Times Square. While there, he signed with a manager who sent him on unpaid auditions throughout Greenwich 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 club with a largely gay clientele on the corner of Charles Street and Seventh Avenue,^[16] playing six hours a night and six nights a week for $96 per month (equivalent to $1,010 per month in 2025).^[17] 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"— ‌and the name stuck.^[13][18]

Throughout the 1960s, Tiny Tim made numerous appearances in film and television. He had a cameo in Jack Smith's Normal Love from 1963. He also featured in 1968's You Are What You Eat, singing the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" as a duet with Eleanor Barooshian, in which Tiny took the Cher part.

God Bless Tiny Tim and peak of popularity

You Are What You Eat led to a booking on the comedy variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Co-host Dan Rowan announced that Laugh-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 dumbfounded Dick Martin watched.^[19] He sang "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on both his second and third appearances on the show.^[20][21]

His debut God Bless Tiny Tim was released by Reprise Records in 1968. "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was released as a single and reached No. 17 on the Billboard 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's For All My Little Friends, a collection of children's songs that received a 1970 Grammy Award nomination.^[22] 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.^[23]

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 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. NBC estimated that the viewing audience was between 30 and 35 million.^[24]

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 in Las Vegas. In August 1970, he performed "There'll Always Be an England" to an estimated 600,000 people at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. The UK press announced that he had stolen the show "without a single electric instrument".^[25]

1970s: Post-Reprise, later ventures

After Tiny Tim's recording contract ended with Reprise,^[26] he founded his own label, Vic-Tim Records, in 1971. Tiny wanted to name the label "Tiny Tim Records", but as he claimed on The Tonight Show, "ASCAP and BMI told me that name was taken, so we finally came down to Vic-Tim, like Vic and Tim." Tiny recorded three singles under his own name for Vic-Tim, and also produced a single for Toni Lee, who was the only other artist on the label. Tim paid for the productions, which were recorded "direct to acetate" for cost reasons, and also paid a song poem outfit, Brite Star Promotions, to press the singles. Brite Star featured Vic-Tim's releases on its "Brite Star's Pick Hits" advertisements in Billboard.^[27] In June, promoter Roy Radin became Tim's manager, and produced his third single for Vic-Tim, "White Christmas". Tim performed the song on The Tonight Show in December to promote its release.^[28] In 1972, he recorded two singles as "Grandpa Tim" for Vic-Tim, which became the label's final releases. Later that year, Tim recorded "Am I Just Another Pretty Face?" for Scepter Records, which was unsuccessful.^[29] In 1973, Tiny Tim founded his second label, Toilet Records, which released two singles: his own "I Ain't Got No Money", and one by his friend, Isadore Fertel, whom Harry Stein described as "Tiny Tim's Tiny Tim". Tiny produced both singles.^[30] He then collaborated with Tash Howard, who was a fan of Tiny's music, and produced his next singles "Juanita Banana" and "The Happy Wanderer". Both records received interest from international markets. Tiny Tim also filmed music videos for both songs. Biographer Justin Martell suggested in his book Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim that Tiny and Howard may have had a falling out.^[31]

In 1974, Tiny appeared on several tour dates with Radin's Vaudeville Revue show. Radin then decided to organize a comeback for him.^[32] In August, Tiny began performing with The Timmies, who served a dual purpose as his backing band and "the rhythm section for the full orchestra".^[33] The Tulips, consisting of backup singers Mimi Seggia and Susie Chin, joined shortly after.^[34] On September 12, "The New Tiny Tim Show" began its Midwest tour and received positive reviews. In October, the group joined the Vaudeville Revue tour for "twenty-three one-nighters".^[35] Tiny Tim also made several television appearances with the Timmies and the Tulips.^[36] Despite the initial attention they received, the media eventually lost interest in the group and instead focused on Tiny's personal problems.^[37] The original Timmies quit the tour over monetary issues in late February 1975 and were quickly replaced.^[38]

In April 1975, a driver who suffered a heart attack crashed into Tiny Tim's touring van, severely injuring Tiny and leaving him with a punctured lung and several broken ribs. Tiny's attorney quit as a result of Tim's mounting legal issues with former managers, in addition to animosity forming towards him in Tim's camp.^[39]

Tiny Tim, a biography by Harry Stein, was published in 1976 by Playboy Press.^[40]

In the mid-70s, Tiny Tim briefly entertained the idea of starring in a pornographic film. An acquaintance, Jackie Vernon, attempted to set up a project for Tim with writer Bucky Searles. Vernon later changed his mind about collaborating with Searles and instead approached a film producer in San Francisco. The project fell apart due to financial disagreements over how much Tim would be paid for the film.^[41]

In 1977, Tiny Tim recorded "Tip-Toe Disco", a disco version of "Tip-Toe Thro' The Tulips", for TCC Records,^[42] followed by "(I'm Gonna Be A) Country Queen", produced by Leon Everette for True Records.^[43]

In 1979, Tiny recorded "Tip-Toe To The Gas Pumps". The single was produced independently by David Heavener, although Radin also received credit on the final release. TK Records picked up the single for distribution, which peaked at number 80 on the Billboard charts.^[44]

Martin Sharp collaborations

Australian pop artist Martin Sharp had a lifelong obsessive fixation on and collaborative relationship with Tiny Tim ever since being taken to his concert at the Royal Albert Hall by Eric Clapton in 1968. For the rest of his lifetime, Sharp constantly advocated for Tiny Tim as a genius of popular song, painted his portrait over and over, promoted his Australian tours and produced several of his albums. In 1979, Sharp brought Tiny Tim to Luna Park in Sydney, Australia to set the world record for the longest non-stop professional singing marathon. The marathon performance was filmed by Sharp's camera crew and ran for over two hours and seventeen minutes, successfully setting a world record.^[45]

When the 1979 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 an arson attempt. All of this became the basis for the film Street of Dreams, which serves as both a biography of Tiny Tim and an exploration of Luna Park and the fire. Sharp never finished editing Street 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.^[46][47][48]

Sharp went on to produce many of Tiny Tim's later records including Rock, Chameleon and Keeping 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, stand-alone footage of the complete marathon performance was released on streaming services as The Non-Stop Luna Park Marathon by Planet Blue Pictures.^[49] As of February 2026^[update], it can still be viewed for free on Vimeo.^[50]

A large mural of Tiny Tim with tulip themes painted by Sharp hangs in the Macquarie University Student Council.^[51]

1980s: Circus days, forays into country and dance music

In 1980, Tiny Tim appeared in a cameo in the film One Trick Pony.^[52] The following year, he recorded two further disco singles for Solid Brass: "Comic Strip Man (Biff, Bam, Slam)" and "Tell Me That You Love Me (My Sweetheart)". Intended as the lead singles from two separate, unreleased albums, producer Michael Nerlino dissuaded Tiny from using his falsetto voice on the records, and launched a heavy marketing push for "Comic Strip Man". The single received heavy airplay on WKTU, but was commercially unsuccessful. Tiny also toured South Korea.^[53]

In 1984, Tiny Tim began touring with Alan C. Hill's Great American Circus. Tiny returned in 1985,^[54] where he was paid $100,000.^[55] He became the star attraction of the show and received attention from the press.^[56] That same year, he produced and released the single "She Left Me With The Herpes", backed with "Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year", which later received airplay on The Howard Stern Show. Tiny claimed to have written the song years before the AIDS epidemic, and that the song was inspired by the Ayds candy, although Martell suggested he was referring to the disease.^[57] In 1986, Tiny recorded the album Tiny Tim: The Eternal Trobadour in Tennessee, with Jack Gale as producer. Gale insisted Tiny re-record "Tip-Toe Thro' the Tulips" for marketability purposes. The album was released on Gale's label, Playback Records, which produced an infomercial featuring Tiny performing tracks from the album. Gale stated, "We sold a few to collectors and things like that, but it never really did anything."^[58]

TIny Tim returned to working with the Great American Circus in 1987,^[59] where he was approached by Gordon Stinson about recording for his label NLT Records.^[60] Tim also appeared in director Bill Rebane's horror film Blood Harvest, where he played a "demented former clown", Marvelous Mervo.^[61] Later, Rebane developed a children's television series as a vehicle for Tiny, titled Tiny Tim & Friends. However, when production began, Tiny "had, quite suddenly, developed a fear of children" and struggled to get through the shoot. The project was shelved after three episodes were completed.^[62]

In 1988, Tiny Tim recorded a country album, Leave Me Satisfied, produced by Don Mitchell for NLT. The album's title song reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in April. The album was never released, in part due to monetary issues, as Stinson had failed to pay Tiny Tim $1,500.^[60]

Later that year, he recorded the single "I Saw Mr. Presley Tip-Toeing Through the Tulips" in New York. Tim's falsetto had weakened since his prime, and he struggled to maintain it during vocal sessions. His friend, Stuart Hersh, who wrote and produced the song, and had convinced Tim to use falsetto on the recording, encouraged him by playing "selections from [Tim's] Reprise albums." Promo copies of the single appeared on the 20th Century Promotions label, which was owned by Tiny's then-current manager Gil Morse. RCA showed interest in the single, but Tiny told Hersh, "We already have it on [Morse's] label." He parted ways with Hersh acrimoniously after a bad experience on The Howard Stern Show.^[63]

In 1989, Tiny Tim appeared with Judy Carne in a music video for his dance track "Won't You Dance With Me?", produced by Jeff Order and Max Maximum. Order said Tommy Boy Records was interested in the song, "[but] nobody ultimately ended up stepping up and buying it."^[64]

1990s: Final years

In the late 1980s, Tiny took part in the nationwide 30 Years of Rock and Roll tour, alongside Micky Dolenz, Herman's Hermits, and other acts, and also appeared in a 3D promotional video for the tour. Tiny befriended Mike Pinera, who wrote Tiny's next single, "Dick Tracy Rides Again". The song was originally intended for the Dick Tracy film soundtrack.^[65]

In 1991, Tiny performed six tracks on Mike Cassone's The Heart Album, which Martell described as "one of the most perplexing and poorly mixed albums in [Tiny Tim's] discography".^[66] In 1993, he made a guest appearance on Laugh-In 25th Anniversary Special.^[67] In Australia, Regular Records issued the Martin Sharp-produced Rock album.^[68] Tiny Tim recorded the album with Her Majesty, described by Martell as "a band comprised of aging rockers". The tracklist included 23-minute versions of "Rebel Yell" and "Eve of Destruction", as well as Tiny's cover of "Highway to Hell". ^[69] The album sold 1,000 copies, but failed to gain traction.^[68] Tiny Tim closed out the year by appearing on The Miss Howard Stern New Year's Eve Paegant pay-per-view TV special, where he performed a tribute song to Stern.^[70]

After becoming engaged to Sue Gardner in September 1994,^[71] Tiny Tim renewed his wedding vows with his second wife, Miss Jan, at the Spooky World theme park^[72] in Berlin, Massachusetts^[73] on October 31. The ceremony was broadcast live on The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno. Tiny had objected to marrying Gardner at the park, and suggested the vow renewal with Miss Jan as a substitute.^[72] Bill Maher served as commentator, and guests included Bobby Pickett and Kane Hodder of Friday the 13th fame.^[74] The next day, Tiny Tim filed for divorce.^[75] In 1995, Durtro released his album Songs of an Impotent Troubadour,^[76] the title referring to his impotency.^[77] The album was produced by James 'Bucks' Burnett, president of the Tiny Tim Fan Club,^[76] and contained all 34 songs Tiny had written for women he had met. It was recorded in a single three-hour recording session, with all songs recorded in a single take,^[78] and sold 1,500 copies.^[79] Three other Tiny Tim albums were released during the same period: I Love Me on Ponk/Seeland, the live album Tiny Tim: Live in Chicago on Bughouse/Pravda, recorded in 1993, and Durtro's Tiny Tim's Christmas Album, which had been recorded in Australia the same year and was produced by Martin Sharp.^[80]

In early 1996, Rounder Records released Tiny Tim's collaboration with Brave Combo, the album Girl, most of which had been recorded in 1990.^[81] Tiny had previously recorded "Stairway to Heaven" with the group in 1988, who "transformed the classic rock arrangement into a jazz epic evocative of The Lounge Lizards".^[82] The release of Girl coincided with the release of Tiny's Prisoner of Love: A Tribute to Russ Columbo.^[83] Tiny had recorded the latter album in September 1994 with producers Mark Robinson and Paul Reller.^[84] In June, Tiny Tim recorded a punk version of "Tulips" with the band Ism.^[85] He also filmed a cameo for the Howard Stern biopic Private Parts,^[86] which was released after Tim's death in 1997. In September, Tiny's final recording session resulted in the unreleased song "The Pizza Polka Rap", produced by Johnny Pineapple for an unrealized advertising concept. The track was a revised version of an older song, "Yum, Yum".^[87]

Political views

Khaury held traditionalist views. In the 1989 New York City mayoral election, he launched a short-lived bid to be mayor of New York City on the New Age Party ticket, before withdrawing, saying "My campaign fizzled as flat as this beer", adding that the campaign had been his manager's idea and that he "just went along with it, but it never seemed to catch fire".^[100][101]

Studio albums

• God Bless Tiny Tim (Reprise Records, 1968)
• With Love and Kisses from Tiny Tim: Concert In Fairyland (Bouquet Records, 1968)
• Tiny Tim's 2nd Album (Reprise Records, 1968)
• For All My Little Friends (Reprise Records, 1969), Nominated for a Grammy Award.
• Wonderful World of Romance (Street of Dreams YPRX 1724, 1980)^[a]
• Chameleon (Street of Dreams YPRX 1848, 1980)^[b]
• The Eternal Troubadour (Playback PBL 123441, 1986)
• Tiptoe Through The Tulips: Resurrection (Bear Family Records BCD 15409, 1988)
• Leave Me Satisfied (NLT 1993, 1989), Unreleased
• Tiny Tim Rock (Regular Records, 1993)
• I Love Me (Yucca Tree Records, 1993)
• Songs of an Impotent Troubadour (Durtro, 1994)
• Tiny Tim's Christmas Album 1994 (Rounder Records, 1994)
• Prisoner of Love: A Tribute to Russ Columbo (Vinyl Retentive Productions, 1995)
• Girl (with Brave Combo) (Rounder Records, 1996)

Compilation albums

• With Love and Kisses from Tiny Tim: Concert in Fairyland (Bouquet SLP 711, 1962)^[c]
• God Bless Tiny Tim: The Complete Reprise Studio Masters...And More (Rhino Handmade, 2006, 3-CD set)
• Wonderful World of Romance (Zero Communications, TTWW 12062, 2006, recorded in 1979)
• Stardust (Zero Communications, TTST 12063, 2006)
• I've Never Seen a Straight Banana – Rare Moments Vol. 1 (Collectors Choice Music WWCCM 20582)^[108] (2009)
• Tiny Tim: Lost & Found (Rare & Unreleased 1963–1974) (Secret Seven Records, 2011, compilation)^[109]
• Tiny Tim's America (Ship to Shore Phonograph Company, 2016, previously unreleased)^[116]
• Always... Tiny Tim (Tiny Tim Pan Alley LLC, 2025)
• Tiny Tim's America:Naked (Tiny Tim Pan Alley, 2026)

Live albums

• A Ghoul at the Pussycat: Live 1963 (1963, Tiny Tim Pan Alley LLC)
• After Midnight, 1977 (Tiny Tim Pan Alley LLC, 2025)
• Beaumont, TX 1984 (2026, Blaha Media LLC)
• World Non-Stop Singing Record Brighton 1988 (1988)
• Live in Chicago with the New Duncan Imperials (1995, Pravda Records)
• Tiny Tim Unplugged (Tomanna 51295, 1996)^[d]
• The Eternal Troubadour: Tiny Tim Live in London (Durtro, 1997, recorded in 1995)
• Live at the Pacific Coliseum (Tiny Tim Pan Alley LLC, 2025)
• Tiny Tim Live! At the Royal Albert Hall (Rhino Handmade, 2000, recorded in 1968)

Guest appearances

• The Beatles' 1968 Christmas Record (Lyntone, LYN 1743/4, 1968), "Nowhere Man"
• The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook (Seven Arts PRO 331), "Mr. Tim Laughs"
• The Heart Album (Ca-Song CA 1369, 1991)^[e]

Singles

• "April Showers" / "Little Girl" (Blue Cat 127, 1966)
• "Be My Love" / "Oh How I Miss You Tonight" (Boquet 101, 1968)
• "On The Good Ship Lollipop" / "Don't Take Your Love from Me" (Boquet 102, 1968)
• "Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me" / "Fill Your Heart" (Reprise 0679, 1968) No. 17
• "Bring Back Those Rockabye Baby Days" / "This Is All I Ask" (Reprise 0760, 1968) No. 95
• "Hello, Hello" / "The Other Side" (Reprise 0769, 1968)
• "Great Balls of Fire" / "As Time Goes By" (Reprise 0802, 1969) No. 85
• "On The Good Ship Lollipop" / "America I Love You" (Reprise 0837, 1969)
• "Neighborhood Children" / "Mickey The Monkey" (Reprise 0855, 1969)
• "I'm A Lonesome Little Raindrop" / "What the World Needs Now Is Love" (Reprise 0867, 1969)
• "Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You" / "What Kind of American Are You?" (Reprise 0939, 1970)
• "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" / "Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You" (Reprise Back To Back Hits (Reissue) 0740, 1970)^[f]
• "Why" / "The Spaceship Song" (Reprise 0985, 1971)^[g]
• "'Hendrix-Joplin-Morrison' Why Did They Have to Die So Young" / "Letter Edged in Black" (Vic Tim 777, 1971)
• "(Whispering Voices) The Ballad of Attica Prison" / "Prisoner's Song" (Vic Tim 778, 1971)
• "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" / "White Christmas" (Vic Tim 1001, 1971)
• "Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me" / "Great Balls of Fire" (Reprise Back To Back Hits (Reissue) 0740)^[f]
• "Am I Just Another Pretty Face" / "Movies" (Scepter 12351, 1972)
• "I Ain't Got No Money" / "Alice Blue Gown" (Toilet 101, 1973)
• "Tip Toe to the Gas Pumps"^[h] / "The Hickey (On Your Neck)" (Clouds Records, 1979)
• "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" / "Feelings" (Tiny Tim Pan Alley LLC, 1982)

EP

• Keeping My Troubles to Myself (1983)

Discography notes