Introduction
Tommy Tucker (born Robert Higginbotham; March 5, 1933 – January 22, 1982) was an African American blues singer-songwriter and pianist. He is best known for the 1964 hit song, "Hi-Heel Sneakers", that went to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and peaked at No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart.
Early life
He was born Robert Higginbotham, to Leroy and Mary Higginbotham, the fifth of eleven children, in Springfield, Ohio, United States.
Career
Tucker's follow-up release, "Long Tall Shorty", was less successful.
Musicians that played on his albums included Louisiana Red, Willie Dixon and Donny Hathaway.
Tucker co-wrote a song with Atlantic Records founder executive Ahmet Ertegun, called "My Girl (I Really Love Her So)".Tucker left the music industry in the late 1960s, taking a position as a real estate agent in New Jersey. He also did freelance writing for a local newspaper in East Orange, New Jersey, writing of the plight and ignorance of black males in America, and the gullibility and exploitation of African Americans in general by the white-dominated media. Tucker currently has four albums selling in Europe and over the internet, through the Red Lightnin' record label.
Death
Tucker died in 1982 at the age of 48 at College Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, from inhaling carbon tetrachloride while refinishing the hardwood floors of his home, though his death has been alternatively attributed to food poisoning.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Tommy Tucker among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.