Marcy Tigner

Hartwick was born to Perry and Erma Berkey Hartwick in Wichita, Kansas on August 24, 1921.{{cite news |author= |title=Obituaries |url=https://www.registerguard.com/rg/news/local/28075529-75/eugene-died-bray-grandchildren-joan.html.csp |work=Eugene Register Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |date=May 30, 2012 |access-date=September 28, 2018|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} Tigner's first instrument was the piano, but she switched to trombone subsequent to hearing a performance of gospel music on the instrument.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-marcy-tigner-mn0001397968/biography |title=Little Marcy Tigner: Biography |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |website=Allmusic |publisher=RhythmOne, LLC |access-date=September 23, 2018}} She accomplished some proficiency on the trombone, winning performance contests at various levels. Her family moved to Oregon, where she played trombone in the Portland Junior Symphony and graduated from Portland's Grant High School. She studied music at the University of Oregon, graduating from there. As a youth her voice was mocked, and she attempted to train her voice, which was un-naturally strident of a high register, through formal voice lessons but these failed and she put her energies into the trombone.{{cite news |author= |title=Woman With Child's Voice Finds New Singing Career |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/154029456/ |work=Eugene Register Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |date=October 29, 1960 |page=2}} In 1946 she was briefly a resident of Albany, Oregon.{{cite news |author= |title=Fights fires |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/442042443/ |work=Albany Democrat-Herald |location=Albany, Oregon |date=August 4, 1969 |page=3|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} She married Malcolm Everett Tigner in 1942, with whom she had two daughters, and settled in the Eugene, Oregon area.

Tigner's first recordings were as a trombonist, made with organist and prolific Christian recording artist Lorin Whitney.{{cite news |author= |title=Secretary to Speak at Youth Crusade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/442077940/ |work=Albany Democrat Herald |location=Albany, Oregon |date=June 5, 1959 |page=5|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} Slightly later she released a solo trombone album for the Christian Faith label.

Tigner's first record to utilize her childlike voice was released September 1960, made for Cornerstone Records and entitled Happy Day Express: Sing With Marcy.{{cite news |author= |title=Marcy's Disk Hits Top 10 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/154041871/ |work=Eugene Register Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |date=April 22, 1961|page=2|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} Despite only four months' circulation, it was the tenth-best selling religious record of 1960. Tigner commenced a tour to promote the album, but she felt ill-at-ease performing as a grown-up woman while performing children's songs with her decidedly immature voice. She became acquainted with Vonda Kay Van Dyke, who would later be Miss America 1965, while working on the film Teenage Diary. Van Dyke encouraged her to study Paul Winchell's book on ventriloquism.{{cite news |last=Markstrom |first=Serena |date=June 15, 2012 |title=These May flowers were at funerals |url=https://www.registerguard.com/rg/entertainment/28216228-67/music-november-marcy-tigner-minchinton.html.csp |work=Eugene Register Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |access-date=September 28, 2018}} By April 1961 a doll named Little Marcy was created by the same dollmaker who made Charlie McCarthy, based on Tigner's specifications of herself as a small child, and this doll became so popular through personal appearances that Tigner's name was dropped and further recordings and appearances were simply credited to "Little Marcy." Tigner made Little Marcy recordings for many of the most significant Christian record labels, including Singcord, Word, and Zondervan. She had a weekly radio show at KWIL in 1965.{{cite news |author= |title=Friends Slate Ventriloquist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/198564118/|work=Statesman Journal |location=Salem, Oregon |date=October 9, 1965 |page=9|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} At the peak of her output she was releasing 5 albums of original material a year, and sales figures were respectable by even secular standards.{{cite book |last=Milano |first=Brett |date=2003 |title=Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRKoumEEmYQC&pg=PA99 |publisher=Macmillan |pages=99–100 |isbn=9780312304270 }} These albums were repeatedly repackaged as budget albums and for other Christian labels such as Chapel Records.{{cite AV media |people=Marcy Tigner |date=1979 |title=Little Marcy Sings Sabbath Songs |medium=LP record |language=en |location=Mountain View, California |publisher=Chapel Records |id=S7011 }} In addition to strictly Christian material, Little Marcy released recordings which would otherwise receive the approval of her Christian base, including a 1969 fire-safety record in which she is partnered with Smokey Bear.

Tigner's output curtailed towards the end of the 1970s. The last original Little Marcy album, Little Marcy and Mother Goose Go to Church, was released in 1982. By 1982 she was residing in North Hollywood, California.{{cite news |author= |title=Ex-Salem Woman to lead family night |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199006952/|work=Statesman Journal |location=Salem, Oregon |date=February 20, 1982 |page=20|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} In the mid-1980s Tigner and the Little Marcy doll made some personal appearances in Oregon, where she and her husband lived, for the next few years. The last Little Marcy products were two short films produced by Tyndale House in the late 1980s intended for Christian cable channels.

Tigner's husband died in 2007. She was living in Redmond, Oregon, where she died on May 17, 2012.

Little Marcy's output was decidedly Christian in outlook, usually of a directly evangelical nature. Her voice was squeaky-high, like that of a small child. After Little Marcy fame hit, she continued her trombone performances alongside her ventriloquism.{{cite news |author= |title=Marcy Tigner's Voices to be Heard in Albany |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/441815272/ |work=Albany Democrat-Herald |location=Albany, Oregon |date=November 1, 1968|page=6 |via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} When Tigner performed as "Little Marcy" at churches she told religious stories through the doll in addition to singing.{{cite news |author= |title=1st Nazarene to See Puppet Show At Sunday School |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/198605116/ |work=Statesman Journal |location=Salem, Oregon |date=October 26, 1968|page=6 |via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} Tigner was able to modulate her speaking voice to sound more adult.

Tigner released more than 40 albums as "Little Marcy", and resulting sales were more than 2 million copies in total. She was awarded a gold disc.{{cite news |author= |title=Mother-Daughter Tea |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/333371893/ |work=The Signal |location=Santa Clara, California |date=May 1, 1974 |page=20|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}

In addition to the numerous LP records, Little Marcy books, toys, and other paraphernalia was produced. Her books were published by Harvest House and Word Books with titles such as Little Marcy Visits the Farm and Little Marcy's Favorite Bible Stories.{{cite book |last=Bowker |first=Beverley Lamar |date=1986 |title=Fiction, Folklore, Fantasy and Poetry for Children, 1876-1985 |publisher=R. R. Bowker LLC |page=[https://archive.org/details/fictionfolkloref02rrbo/page/1963 1963] |isbn=9780835218313 |url=https://archive.org/details/fictionfolkloref02rrbo |url-access=registration }} Tigner's personal appearances drew upwards of 2000 children, at one occasion in 1971 an appearance originally scheduled for four performances was expanded to ten in order to meet demand.{{cite news |author= |title='Little Marcy' Puppet Show Draws 1000s |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/198561766/ |work=Statesman Journal |location=Salem, Oregon |date=November 27, 1971 |pages=1, 13|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }} She wrote at least two cantatas for children, "The Jesus Story" and "Noah's Ark", the latter in collaboration with Joe Rizzo.{{cite news |author= |title=Mt. Jewett Children Will Present Cantata |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/55498382/ |work=The Kane Republican |location=Kane, Pennsylvania |date=April 29, 1975 |page=2|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}{{cite news |author= |title=Bulletin Board |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/279063102/ |work=Hattiesburg American |location=Hattiesburg, Mississippi |date=August 8, 1981 |page=8|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}

Tigner's popularity re-ascended in the mid 1990s. She was re-discovered by junk-shop vinyl enthusiasts, who sought the recordings for their novelty value. The Little Marcy version of "Join the Gospel Express" appeared on a 1994 compilation entitled Incredibly Strange Music, but perhaps the most sought-after recordings by collectors of this genre are "I Love Little Pussy" and "Devil, Devil, Go Away!"{{cite book |last=Bullock |first=Darrel W. |date=2015 |title=The World's Worst Records: Volume One: An Arcade of Audio Atrocity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iRJ8BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |publisher=Bristol Green Publishing |pages=51–54 |isbn=9781482624465}} Following her death a special version of the KWVA program Sunday Morning Hangover focusing on Little Marcy's career was broadcast on June 3, 2012.

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Category:1921 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:People from Wichita, Kansas

Category:American women singers

Category:American performers of Christian music

Category:Christians from Kansas

Category:Christians from Oregon

Category:University of Oregon alumni

Category:Ventriloquists

Category:Word Records artists

Category:21st-century American women