Tiny Topsy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Otha Lee Moore (May 22, 1930 – August 16, 1964), better known as Tiny Topsy, was an American R&B singer. The
music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, Mark Lamarr, noted "Tiny in the same spirit you'd call a bald man curly, Tiny Topsy definitely had the lungpower to match her name." She was five feet tall and weighed 250 pounds. Although none of her seven single releases made the national charts, her early version of " Just a Little Bit" preceded bigger success for the song. Tiny Topsy was once believed to be an alias used by Bernice Williams (who wrote Tiny Topsy's track, "Western Rock 'N' Roll"), although pop historians now discount the idea.


Life and career

Otha Lee Moore was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, the daughter of Annabell and Casey Moore, and was raised in nearby Robbins,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, United States. She began her singing career in the mid-1940s, fronting Al Smith's eight-piece jazz and rhythm and blues band in her home town. Her backing outfit went on to become the house band for labels including
Chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Mary ...
,
Parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...
and
Vee-Jay Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...
, and turned out over eighty recording sessions between 1952 and 1959, but all of them without Tiny Topsy's involvement. Her first recording session was on July 9, 1957 in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, and resulted in "Aw! Shucks Baby" (
Federal Records Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. The compa ...
), incorporating a Ray Felder
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
solo. Another track recorded was "Miss You So", with the resultant single release billed as by Tiny Topsy and the Five Chances. The B-side, "Miss You So", was a cover version of an earlier hit for Lillian Offitt. The third cut at the session, "A Woman's Intuition", was not issued until 1988. Her next single was "Come On, Come On, Come On" b/w "Ring Around My Finger", when she was again backed by the vocal group the Charms, who this time got credit on the resulting label. Another rock-laden track, "You Shocked Me", was her third release on Federal. Both "Come On, Come On, Come On" and "You Shocked Me" saw a UK release by
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
, a rarity for American R&B tracks of the day. Tiny Topsy's fourth Federal single was written by Bernice Williams. "Western Rock 'n' Roll" incorporated small sequences of the then-current hits "
Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are ava ...
", "
At the Hop "At the Hop" is a 1950s pop song written by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was released in the fall of 1957 and reached number one on the US charts on January 6, 1958, becomi ...
", " Get a Job", and "
Short Shorts "Short Shorts" is a song written and performed by Tom Austin, Bill Crandell, Bill Dalton, Russ Viers, and Bob Gaudio, members of The Royal Teens. It reached #2 on the U.S. R&B chart and #3 on the U.S. pop chart in 1958. The group originally rele ...
". It opened with gunshots and having been recorded on March 19, 1958, predated
the Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
hit, "Western Movies" by three months.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
mused that sound effects on "Western Movies" were inspired by "Western Rock 'n' Roll". In 1959, she recorded "After Marriage Blues" (also known as "How You Changed") and "Working On Me, Baby" which were released on
Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Arg ...
. Her next single, which proved to be her last with Federal, was " Just a Little Bit" (1959).
Rosco Gordon Rosco N. Gordon III (April 10, 1928 – July 11, 2002), sometimes billed as Roscoe Gordon, was an American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter. He is best known for his hit songs "Booted," (1952), "No More Doggin'" (1952), and " Just a Littl ...
had a number 2 US '' Billboard'' R&B chart hit with his version in 1960. An alternate recording of "Aw! Shucks Baby" with "Everybody Needs Some Loving" on the B-side was released by King Records in 1963, months prior to her death. She had married Samuel Hall, a Chicago night club owner, and was therefore sometimes known as Otha Lee Moore Hall. Tiny Topsy died on August 16, 1964, in
Cook County Hospital The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital) is a public hospital in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, along with Provident Hospital of Cook County and ...
in Chicago, at the age of 34 of an intracerebral hemorrhage, following an evening of performing at her husband's club. She was buried at
Burr Oak Cemetery Burr Oak Cemetery is a cemetery located in Alsip, Illinois, United States, a suburb southwest of Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1927, Burr Oak was one of the few early Chicago cemeteries focused on the needs of the African-American community, ...
. There are several compilation albums available which encompass all of her recorded work, including ''Aw! Shucks, Baby'' (1988).


Singles discography


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Topsy, Tiny 1930 births 1964 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers American rhythm and blues singers 20th-century American singers Singers from Chicago Federal Records artists King Records artists 20th-century American women singers