Harry Lawrence “Tiny” Hill (July 19, 1906 – December 13, 1971) was a band leader of the Big Band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 era. During the height of his career Hill was billed as “America’s Biggest Bandleader” because of his weight of over 365 lb (165.6 kg). His signature song was “Angry

Angry (1925 song)

"Angry" is a popular song, with lyrics by Dudley Mecum and music by Henry Brunies, Merritt Brunies, and Jules Cassard, written in 1925.The song is considered a barbershop quartet standard and was used as the signature song of popular big band bandleader leader Harry Lawrence "Tiny" Hill. Hill made...

” which he first recorded in 1939 on Columbia records Vocalion label. He used sandpaper blocks and a güiro

Güiro

The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...

 to generate a double shuffle "beat that makes the listener itch to dance".

Early life

Hill was born in Sullivan Township (Moultrie County) Illinois. His parents were William Fred Hill and Osa Crowdson Ault. His parents separated when he was seven years old and he went to live with an aunt. He was active in high school sports and was president of his senior class. He graduated from high school in 1924 and then attended Illinois State Normal School for two years. Financial difficulties forced him to leave college to go to work. He went to Detroit where he worked in a produce warehouse. After a series of short term jobs he ended up driving a team of mules for the Midwest Canning Company in Rochelle, Illinois.

His own band

In 1931 Hill formed his first big band which were known as the “Fat Man’s Band” . Hill played the drums with the trio which played for several years in and around Decatur, IL

Decatur, Illinois

Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...

. In 1934 Tiny joined the Byron Dunbar band in Decatur as a drummer and vocalist. After a year with Dunbar, Hill left to form his own band, taking many of Dunbar’s band members with him.

Members of Hill’s new band were Dick Coffeen and Harold King on trumpets; John Noreiul on trombone, Jim Shielf on piano, and Reightno Corrington on bass. The reed section included Bobby Walters, Bob Kramar and Nook Schreier

David Carroll (musician)

David Carroll was a studio arranger, conductor, and musical director....

, who also did arranging. The group’s style was Dixieland jazz and hillbilly music. Their theme song was “Dream Girl”. By 1937 the band was playing its warm and easy-to-dance-to music three nights a week to packed audiences at the Ingleterra Ballroom in Peoria, IL

Peoria, Illinois

Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...

.

In September 1939, the band was heard over Remote

Big band remote

A big band remote was a remote broadcast, popular on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.As early as 1923, listeners could tune in The Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra...

 WGN Radio broadcasts from the Melody Mill Ballroom in the Chicago suburb of North Riverside, IL. The band played for several years at the Melody Mill and acquired a large following throughout the Midwest.

Augmented by vocalists such as Allen De Witt, Bob Freeman, Irwin Bendell and Hill himself, the group's popularity soon extended to Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa, growing steadily throughout the 30s and 40s. Soon the band was playing in ballrooms coast to coast. Tiny toured the country for a while and landed on the Coast to play four months at the Casino Gardens, Ocean Park, Calif. He returned to Chicago in 1942. Further appearances included Aragon

Aragon Ballroom (Chicago)

The Aragon Ballroom is the name of a ballroom in Chicago, Illinois.Located on West Lawrence Avenue approximately five miles north of downtown in the Uptown neighborhood, it was built in 1926 and designed in the Moorish architectural style with the interior resembling a Spanish village and named...

 and Trianon in Chicago and The Rainbow Ballroom

The Rainbow Ballroom (Denver)

The Rainbow Ballroom, at 38 E 5th Avenue , Denver, was a dance hall that was one of the best known dance halls west of the Mississippi, according to a 1946 Billboard article...

 in Denver.

In 1943 Hill and his orchestra became the summer replacement band on the Lucky Strike “Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...

” radio show.

In 1945 He was hired as Folk Music Director at Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

. He resigned as Country A&R man at Mercury in March 1948.

At a performance at the Trianon Ballroom

Trianon Ballrooms

The Trianon Ballrooms were located in a number of cities during America's bigband era. The most prominent Trianon was in Chicago, Illinois, but there were others as well, located in places such as Cleveland, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toledo, and the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate...

, South Gate, CA, June 18, 1946, booked by MCA, the members of the orchestra consisted of:

• VOCALISTS: Tiny Hill, Buddy Milton, Bobby Anderson, Russ Phillips
• CORNETS: Sterling Bose
  Sterling Bose
  Sterling Belmont "Bozo" Bose was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. His style was heavily influenced by Bix Beiderbecke and changed little over the course of his life....
  
  , Bobby Anderson
• TROMBONES: Russ Phillips, Jimmy James
• SAXES: Buddy Walden, Bobby Walter, Vic Jaroney, Jim Turner
• RHYTHM: Buddy Milton, guitar; Clarence (Penny) Pfiefer, drums; Pat Paterson, bass; Jimmy Shields, piano
• ARRANGERS: Wally Fobart, Ralph Morse, Bobby Walter, Bobby Anderson

Tiny and his band continued to enjoy success for many years, well into the 1950s, until the end of the big band era.

Married life

Hill was married twice. He was first married to Alta Blystone from Sullivan, IL. She travelled with Hill and his mother cooking meals for the band when they were on the road.

On May 1, 1946 Hill married 31 year old Jenny Lou Carson

Jenny Lou Carson

Jenny Lou Carson, , born Virginia Lucille Overstake, was an American country music singer-songwriter and the first woman to write a No. 1 country music hit...

, a successful county music singer and songwriter. The couple purchased a log cabin on Naches Pass near Mount Rainier, WA in 1948. The couple had a very successful business partnership with Hill performing many of Jenny Lou's songs and eventually recording eleven of her songs including "Never Trust A Woman" in 1947 (Mercury #6062). Hill's mother did not like Jenny Lou and their marriage was doomed from the start. Jenny Lou filed for divorce in April 1949, it became final on July 5, 1949.

Popular songs

Hill’s band performed in ballrooms across the country and on radio and recording such songs as "Angry

Angry (1925 song)

"Angry" is a popular song, with lyrics by Dudley Mecum and music by Henry Brunies, Merritt Brunies, and Jules Cassard, written in 1925.The song is considered a barbershop quartet standard and was used as the signature song of popular big band bandleader leader Harry Lawrence "Tiny" Hill. Hill made...

", "Sioux City Sue

Sioux City Sue

"Sioux City Sue" is a 1945 song by Dick Thomas. The song was Thomas' first chart entry on the Juke Box Folk Records chart and was also his most successful release: "Sioux City Sue" spent four weeks at number one and a total of twenty-three weeks on the charts....

", "Heartaches

Heartaches (song)

"Heartaches" is a popular song with music by Al Hoffman and lyrics by John Klenner. The song was published in 1931.-Ted Weems cover:The biggest recorded version of the song was by the Ted Weems Orchestra, with Elmo Tanner whistling...

", "I'll Sail My Ship Alone", "Who's Sorry Now?

Who's Sorry Now?

"Who's Sorry Now?" is a popular song with music written by Ted Snyder and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It was published in 1923."Who's Sorry Now?" was featured in the Marx Brothers film A Night in Casablanca , directed by Archie Mayo and released by United Artists.The song has been...

", "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (song)

"Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" was a popular song of the 1920s, music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by Sam M. Lewis & Joseph Widow Young, first recorded by The California Ramblers in 1925 on their self-titled album The California Ramblers...

", "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover

I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover

"I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" is a song from 1927, written by Mort Dixon with music by Harry M. Woods. It was a hit for Art Mooney & His Orchestra in 1948 and was largely popularized by him. In modern times the song is perhaps most associated with Merrie Melodies cartoons, as it appeared in...

", "Move It On Over", "Mockin' Bird Hill

Mockin' Bird Hill

Mockin' Bird Hill is a 3/4 song was written by Vaughn Horton and published in 1951. It was popularized by Patti Page and by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1951, and for both of them following on to their big hit of "The Tennessee Waltz" the previous year...

", and "Slow Poke

Slow Poke

"Slow Poke" is a popular song. It is credited to three writers: Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and Chilton Price. Actually Price wrote the song in 1951, as she thought the song described her friend, King, very well. King recorded the song and Stewart did the vocal...

".

In 1951 Hill had a hit with a cover of “Hot Rod Race

Hot Rod Race

"Hot Rod Race" is a Western swing song about an automobile race out of San Pedro, California, between a Ford and a Mercury. Released in November 1950, it broke the ground for a series of hot rod songs recorded for the car culture of the 1950s and 60s...

” written by George Wilson.

In all, Hill made over 95 recordings on six different labels.

Later years

In January 1950 Hill moved to Colorado where he would spend time when not on the road. He purchased a 140 acre (0.5665604 km²) dairy farm at Ft. Lupton named Mountain View.
In 1951 the band traveled 46000 miles (74,029.6 km) in ten months. In 1952, the band racked up 61000 miles (98,169.7 km) in 11 months, in his fleet of Packard automobiles. Fast cars were one of Tiny's hobbies. In '51 and again in '52, the band was his guests at the Indianapolis Memorial Day Races. Another of his hobbies was cooking. In 1956, Hill opened Radio Station KHIL in Brighton, CO.

He eventually spent less time on the road and more time with his business interests.

Despite the ending of the Big Bands era, Hill continued to play in small combos in the Denver-Brighton area, often returning to the Midwest for guest appearances. Undeterred by the decline in the commercial appeal of the big band sound, Hill resolutely remained at the helm of the combo until his death in 1971. His final public performance was to a capacity audience in Emden, Illinois on July 17, 1971. The inscription on his tombstone reads: “Forgotten quickly by many, remembered forever by a few.”

Selected discography of the Tiny Hill band

• "Mickey"

Voc. Irving Bendel
Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5445, mx.25576

• "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5445, mx.25568

• "Dream Girl"

Aug. 14th, 1939
Vocalion 5060, mx.W-26005-A

• "Doodle Doo Doo"

Aug. 14th, 1939
Vocalion 5060, mx.W-26006-A

• "Every Little Movement"

Aug. 14th, 1939
Vocalion 5128, mx.26007-A

• "Mama's Gone, Goodbye"

Aug. 14th, 1939
Vocalion 5128, mx.26008-A

• "Jingle Bells"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5248, mx.25569-1

• "For He's (A) Jolly Good Fellow"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5248, mx.25575-1

• "Auld Lang Syne"

Voc. Erwin Bendel
Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5275, mx.25567-1

• "I'll Keep On Loving You"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5275, mx.25566-1

• "Skirts"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5340, mx.25570

• "I Get The Blues When It Rains"

Nov. 21st, 1939
Vocalion 5340, mx.25573

External links

• University of North Carolina Southern Folklife Collection at the Wilson Library