Tiny Tim

Herbert Butros Khaury (April 12, 1932 – November 30, 1996), also known as Herbert Buckingham Khaury, and known professionally as Tiny Tim, was an American musician, songwriter and musical archivist. He is especially known for his 1968 hit cover of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", a song from the 1929 musical Gold Diggers of Broadway. "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight", which was featured and popularized in the SpongeBob SquarePants pilot episode, "Help Wanted" in 1999, was rated as 2nd best song at "Top 10 Tiny Tim Songs". Tiny Tim was renowned for his wide vocal range, in particular his far-reaching falsetto.

Tiny Tim was born Herbert Khaury in Manhattan, New York City, on April 12, 1932. 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. Tiny Tim himself was a Roman Catholic.

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. 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. 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.

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.

Khaury claimed to have discovered his high voice in 1949. According to Justin Martell, Khaury had decided to seek a "unique vocal quality", having noticed how performers such as Rudy Vallée used their voices on records. He taught himself to play ukulele using an Arthur Godfrey method book. Khaury would later describe this period of his life as a "religious experience".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.