Dudley "Big Tiny" Little, Jr. (August 31, 1930 – March 3, 2010)
Thedeadrockstarsclub.com, accessed March 2010 was an American musician who appeared on ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 195 ...

'' from 1955 to 1959. His primary instrument was the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Biography

Born in

Worthington, Minnesota Worthington is a city in and the county seat of Nobles County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,947 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city's site was first settled in the 1870s as Okabena Station on ...

, United States, and the son of Tiny Little, Sr., a prominent musician and bandleader, Big Tiny Little, Jr. first took up playing piano at the age of five, becoming both a

honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and playing other instruments such as the organ, bass horn and

bass fiddle The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

. After playing in his father's band for a while, he joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and did a tour in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. He became a member of

Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, tele ...

's famous "champagne music makers" just one month after Welk's national TV debut in 1955. A regular feature of Welk's popular show, Tiny's outstanding keyboard artistry won him millions of fans from coast to coast. He was featured in solo performances of old

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

tunes, but he also worked quietly as a member of the Welk ensemble, at the rear of the bandstand, playing background piano alongside singer-pianist

Larry Hooper Lawrence "Bullfrog" Hooper (July 22, 1917 in Independence, Missouri – June 10, 1983 in Los Angeles, California) was an American musician and vocalist. He was best known to television audiences as part of ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' as a featured ...

. After his tenure on the show (he was replaced by

Jo Ann Castle Jo Ann Castle (born September 3, 1939) is an American honky-tonk pianist, best remembered for appearing on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''. She adopted her stage name from the name of an accordion manufacturer, another instrument she played proficien ...

), Little went solo again; recording more than 45

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s and making guest appearances on several

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

s over the years. More recently, he played with

Mary Lou Metzger Mary Lou Metzger (born November 13, 1950) is an American singer and dancer best known as a cast member on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''. Metzger was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of Ernie and Helen Metzger. The family moved to Ha ...

Jack Imel Lawrence "Jack" Imel (June 9, 1932 – April 30, 2017) was an American musician, dancer, singer, and television producer who is best known for his work on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''. A tap dancer since the age of four, Imel later took up playin ...

Ralna English Ralna Eve English is an American-born singer (born June 19, 1942) from Haskell, Texas. She gained fame as half of the husband-and-wife singing duo of Guy & Ralna with then-husband Guy Hovis, both of whom were featured performers on ''The Lawre ...

Ava Barber Ava Marlene Barber (born June 28, 1954) is an American country music singer and performer. She is best remembered for her performances on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' throughout much of the 1970s and early 1980s. She is also known as a recording a ...

and

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting with reverb eff ...

in the touring ''Live Lawrence Welk Show''. Little also performed at President Ronald

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's inaugural balls in 1985 and returned to television in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

special; ''Lawrence Welk: Milestones and Memories,'' which featured a reunion of stars from the Welk show. ''

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ''The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to May 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore ...

'' of January 20, 1963, was devoted entirely to masters of the piano, featuring

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

's four guests,

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

Peter Nero Peter Nero (born Bernard Nierow, May 22, 1934) is an American pianist and pops conductor. He directed the Philly Pops from 1979 to 2013, and has earned two Grammy Awards. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Bernard Nierow, he started ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

and Big Tiny Little. He lived in

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and died there on March 3, 2010, aged 79.

Discography

*''Make Room for Tiny'' (Brunswick Records BL-54030) (1957) *''Honky Tonk Piano'' (Brunswick Records BL-54049) (1959) *''Big Tiny Little's Music of the 20s'' (Brunswick Records BL-757057) (1959) *''Big Tiny's Little Black Book'' (Coral Records CRL 757356) (1960) *''"Big" Tiny Little's Singing Honky-Tonk'' (Coral Records CRL 757335) (1960) *''Big Tiny Little In Person'' (Coral Records CRL 757390) (1961) *''Christmas With Big Tiny Little'' (Coral Records CRL 757391) (1961; reissued by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

in 1995 as ''Ragtime Christmas'') *''Little Land'' (Coral Records-CRL-757386) (1961) *''Big Tiny Little Movin' On'' (Coral Records CRL 57425) (1963) *''Tiny Little's Forties'' (Coral Records CRL 757445) (1964) *''Mr. Piano Personality'' (Coral Records CRL57461) (1964) *''Honky Tonk Hootenanny'' (Coral Records-CRL-57448) (1964) *''Golden Piano Hits'' (GNP Crescendo Records GNPD 2113) (1978) *''Honky Tonk Piano'' (with Mickey Finn) (GNP Crescendo GNPD 2127) (1979)

In popular culture

"Big Tiny" Little's Brunswick recording of "

Twelfth Street Rag "Twelfth Street Rag" is a ragtime musical composition published by Euday L. Bowman in 1914. Background A friend of Euday Bowman known as "Raggedy Ed" declared his intention to open a pawn shop on 12th Street in Kansas City while the two were ...

", from the album ''Honky Tonk Piano'' (Side 1, track 4), was the theme for

Joe Franklin Joe Franklin (March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015), born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first talk show and inventing the format. His te ...

's long-running TV show on New York City station WOR-TV (now

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

). Little's version served as the opening and closing theme until the mid-1990s.

References

External links

* *
"Big" Tiny Little - Twelfth Street Rag (Stereo), YouTube"The Joe Franklin Show" opnening circa 1967, YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Big Tiny American jazz pianists American male pianists 1930 births 2010 deaths Coral Records artists Lawrence Welk People from Worthington, Minnesota 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from Minnesota American male jazz musicians