Tiny Tim was born Herbert Khaury in 1932 and grew up convinced he would be a singing star.
There was definitely something peculiar about this childlike man with the wiry hair, ghoulish makeup, hooked nose and autistic facility to retain and recall songs, who was deeply religious and eternally romantic, but his eccentricity helped make him a beguiling performer, a font of joy, as well as a freakish figure of indeterminate origin and motive.
Tim often claimed that the spirits of Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby and others found release through him.
Hearing that unearthly changeling voice enjoying its work it’s quite easy to believe him.
Tiny Tim suffered a heart attack and died in Minneapolis on 30 November 1996. He was just 64.
