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Tiny Tim, the iconic American musician known for his distinctive falsetto and whimsical rendition of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” left an indelible mark on the music world. Born Herbert Khaury in 1932 in New York City, Tiny Tim’s passion for music began early-sparked by a vintage wind-up gramophone gifted by his father, Butros Khaury, a Lebanese textile worker, when he was just five years old.
His breakthrough came in 1968 with his quirky cover of the 1929 classic “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” which climbed to number 17 on the Billboard charts and featured on his debut album, God Bless Tiny Tim. Despite this success, his career faced setbacks, including a serious accident in 1973 that left him with a collapsed lung and multiple broken ribs.
Though his popularity waned over time, Tiny Tim continued performing well into the 1990s. In September 1996, he suffered a heart attack at a festival in Montague, Massachusetts, and was hospitalized for several weeks. Battling multiple heart and diabetic conditions, doctors advised him to retire from performing, but Tiny Tim chose to keep singing.
On November 30, 1996, at a benefit gala in Minneapolis organized by the Women’s Club of Minneapolis, Tiny Tim-then married to his third wife, Susan Marie Gardner, a Harvard graduate-felt unwell but went on to perform. During a shortened version of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” he suffered another fatal heart attack on stage.
Susan recalled helping him as he fell, noting, “I don’t think he had time to feel pain. He died singing ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips,’ and the last thing he heard was the applause, and the last thing he saw was me.”
After emergency efforts at Minneapolis Hospital, Tiny Tim was pronounced dead. The Grammy-nominated artist’s legacy endures, with his final resting place at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.