Tommy Tucker

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Tommy Tucker (born Robert Higginbotham, March 5, 1933 - January 22, 1982) was an American blues singer and pianist. He was born in Springfield, Ohio. He is best known for the 1964 hit "High Heel Sneakers" that went to number 11 on the Top 40 U.S. chart.

Over 200 artists have recorded this song. These include Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis on a youtube.com video and numerous LP's and CD's, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCarthy, Sammy Davis Jr., Janis Joplin, Jose Feliciano, Tom Jones, John Lee Hooker, Cleo Laine, Pharoah Sanders, Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead and Ramsey Lewis. There are many videos on youtube.com with performances by The Searchers on Shindig!, Zsa Zsa Gabor, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sting, The Mummies, a garage band, and many more.

The song has appeared in several documentaries, for example The Who's Quadrophenia, the HBO special The Promiseland, motion pictures, e.g. Lion of Africa, Lackawanna Blues, Frankie's House, commercial jingles and television such as Late Night with David Letterman, sitcoms Rags to Riches, Redd Foxx Show, plus sporting events such as the women's NCAA Basketball Championship. In England there is a racehorse named High Heel Sneakers, in the Netherlands a musical group also.

His follow-up, 'Long Tall Shorty', was less successful.

Robert Higginbotham is also the father of an up and coming Blues artist by the name of "Teeny Tucker", real name Regina Westbrook, and a cousin named Joan Higginbotham a U.S. female astronaut launching November 2006 on the space shuttle Discovery, best friends with Davey Moore, the featherweight who died at the hands of Sugar Ramos, hitting his head on the rungs of the ring after getting knocked out and dying two days later, Johnny Lytle deceased in 1995, the renowned vibraphonist, band partners with Dean & Jean of "Tra La La La Suzy before they became known for that name and their hit recording of the 1960's, magazines such as Jet, numerous European Blues Magazines. Famous entertainers that have played on his LP's are Louisiana Red, Willie Dixon, Donny Hathaway, etc. Robert Higginbotham was also a freelance journalist for a local magazine in East Orange, N.J. while selling real estate. Robert Higginbotham also co-wrote a song with Atlantic Records founder executive Ahmet Ertegun called 'My Girl (I Really Love Her So). High Heel Sneakers was voted in the Top 5 as a rhythm and blues standard. He currently has four albums selling in Europe and over the internet through the Red Lightnin' label owned by Peter Sherster.

The opening stanza "Put on your red dress, mama/'cause you're going out tonight" was used as the theme song at the beginning of a mid-1980's TV commercial for Fresh Start laundry detergent. The action: a mother receives a phone call from her husband saying that they were going out, the woman searches frantically for her red dress, only to find her daughter wearing it while playing "grown up". The mother then washes it quickly in time to "go out tonight."