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| Big Tiny Little |
 Big Tiny Little first began playing the piano at the age of six in Worthington, Minnesota. His father, also known as Tiny Little, was a well-known band leader throughout the Midwest. By 1945, Big Tiny Little had begun playing in a country band and then in a series of dance bands. He became fluent in a number of styles during this period and following years. During his four-year stay with the Lawrence Welk Show, Little picked up the Big Tiny nickname. Lawrence Welk was a friend of my dad’s. When I joined the show they wanted to call me Tiny Little Junior, and when I left the show, I dropped the Junior. While with the Welk show, Big Tiny Little developed and performed ragtime--the first time the style had been heard on a television series. the mass exposure did a lot to popularize it. After leaving the Lawrence Welk Show, Tiny performed on virtually every music and variety show on the air including the first Mike Douglas Show, Ed Sullivan, Dean Martin and Dinah Shore. A part of that Dinah Shore Show featured four pianists at one time playing different interpretations of songs. Peter Nero playing jazz, Ray Charles playing rhythm and blues, Liberace playing classical style and Tiny playing Dixieland. |
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