Today’s Coronavirus Quarantine Classic© comes from Tommy Tucker, an R&B artist of the ’50s and ’60s whose only brush with fame came with “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” which reached No. 11 on the Billboard chart in 1964. Born Robert Higginbotham in Springfield, Ohio, he performed in various bands in his home state before relocating to Newark, N.J. in the ’60s. He recorded this self-penned tune in 1967, shortly before he left the music business to go into real estate. He made a couple of brief comebacks in the ’70s but died at age 48 in 1982, reportedly from inhaling carbon tetrachloride he was using to refinish his hardwood floors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIUmmlmEKrE
“Hi-Heel Sneakers” was also an original composition. Though it became a hit in 1964, some sources list an earlier 1962 recording. The line about boxing gloves is a reference to Tucker’s stint as a Gold Gloves boxer in his youth.
He followed up “Hi-Heel Sneakers” with “Long Tall Shorty,” which wasn’t a hit for him but was much covered by British Mod bands.
