I was playing with my band at a night club in the early 80s with a one week engagement and I happen to see a guy in the back that looked very familiar. I kept thinking to myself, this can’t be who I think it is . At our first break he approached me and asked me if I would be interested in playing keyboards for him the next week when he was playing there?
Yes, it was Tiny Tim!
I’ve got to tell you, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. Told me I only had to play on about five songs with him and he would provide the sheet music, no rehearsal, just do it! He told stories throughout the set. Obviously “tiptoe through the tulips” was one of them and the rest were songs from the 30s and 40s that I really wasn’t familiar with, but it all came out great, and like I said he was very shy but very cool. $50 a man was the going rate at that time and he gave me $100 per night, even though I told him I would do it for nothing.
i’ve met a lot of jerk musicians in my life, but I can honestly say he was one of the nicest.