BOOK: ‘Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim’ by Justin Martell with Alanna Wray McDonald
Once a polarizing figure, now nearly forgotten, Tiny Tim has become almost a punchline. People talk about how “funny” or “quirky” he was, yet few people know much about him. He was an elusive man of fleeting fame, and few biographers have even attempted to wade through his strange past to write a novel. Yet Eternal Troubadour explores the weird and wonderful (and sometimes not-so-wonderful) world of an incredibly talented and interesting man. Though admittedly, even I knew nearly nothing of Tiny Tim before reading this book, Troubadour quickly draws the reader into Tim’s intriguing life.
Although much of Tim, or Herbert Khaury’s real life was shrouded by his stage act and evasive answers in interviews, using conversations with Khaury’s family, friends, and business associates, archival footage and Khaury’s own diaries, a full picture is painted of Tim’s world.
Starting at the very beginning, with the tale of his immigrant parents and premature birth, Troubadour outlines many of the strange details of Khaury’s early life; things that somewhat explain his unusual development. One of the strangest and most telling stories of his youth is that the once athletic child developed appendicitis and blamed it on exerting himself with sport, thus deciding never to do so again.
Khaury’s extended family were never supportive of his mother’s marriage to his father, and the trend continued with their lack of support for Khaury himself. His own mother seemed to hold his cousin’s accomplishments over his head, even after he became successful. Although it’s worth noting that his success came late and was short-lived. He was in his thirties before he accomplished any notable amount of fame, and did little to support himself or his aging parents throughout his twenties. Quite the contrary, in fact, Khaury often got into fights, sometimes physically, with his parents, and usually spent what little money he earned on a massive collection of classic 78 RPM records, rather than on helping the family.
While he was somewhat ahead of his time in several ways, Khaury was an outdated contradiction overall. He wore his hair long as early as the fifties, but supported conservative leaders and the war in Vietnam. He supported racial equality and understanding, but believed that a woman’s place was in the home and the kitchen, a view he often pressed upon his first wife. He supported “healthy eating,” but often binged on sweets, hamburgers, and alcohol (presumably, not all together). Khaury is often presented as a personable and likable guy, but his treatment of women, particularly his first wife, is abhorrent. Not only did he attempt to press his religious and political values on her, but exhibited many traits of an emotional abuser, isolating her from friends and family, and even telling her on their wedding night that he would see other women and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
His musical career and fleeting fame are examined in detail, from his acclaimed album God Bless Tiny Tim to his not-so-acclaimed Concert in Fairyland, a disastrous recording he’d never intended to release. Also inspected is his hold over a crowd, exhibited in countless live shows both before and after he took on the name “Tiny Tim.” What’s clear is that he was a man of definite talent, whose vocal range was fully exploited, but who sometimes sabotaged his own recordings, as in the Concert in Fairyland recordings.
One might not expect it, but Khaury truly led a rockstar’s life for a few years. He spent excessively, binged, and even destroyed a couple of hotel rooms by flying into fits of rage. He rubbed elbows with many of the 1960s elite, from Bob Dylan to Cass Elliot to Jim Morrison (who supposedly wanted Tiny Tim to record “People Are Strange” before he himself recorded it).
The authors are thorough in their examination of multiple sources to get to the truth about the life of Herbert Khaury. Often the conflicting stories are presented side-by-side, with an indication of which the authors believe to be true.
Even including musings from his abused ex-wife, and many of the business associates Khaury broke ties with for little or no reason, no one truly seems to dislike Khaury, and most blame his behaviours on the fact that he was a troubled artist, and let him off because his peculiarities extended beyond his refusal to comb his long hair and his love of face cream.
There aren’t many biographies of the illustrious Tiny Tim. He was a huge figure in the late sixties and early seventies, yet often forgotten. Information on him is scarce at best, and yet his life, his art, and his actions are endlessly fascinating. Thus, Eternal Troubadour makes for an interesting and essential read.
Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim is available on Amazon.
