We just received the following sad news (including a mention of Weirdomusic.com) through Registerguard.com: Former Eugene resident and recording artist Marcellaise Tigner, who performed as Little Marcy, died May 17 in Redmond at age 90.
Tigner’s childlike voice won her a recording contract with Cornerstone Records, who in 1964 released “Happy Day Express: Sing With Marcy.” Before that, she had put out two trombone records.
Tigner’s involvement in the film “Teenage Diary” led to her friendship with ventriloquist and actress Vonda Van Dyke, who encouraged Tigner to study ventriloquism. She was more comfortable performing live in her childlike voice, and with her ventriloquist doll.
Little Marcy became her on-stage vocal performance conduit. It soon became her stage name as well, and she recorded about 40 albums.
Reverend Marc Time did a June 3 radio special on Little Marcy on his “Sunday Morning Hangover” program on KWVA-FM, which is archived at rgne.ws/KQjBhB. He mentions the dolls, books, puzzles and videos she mass-produced in her prime in the 1960s and ’70s.
On weirdmusic.com, an article noted She and her husband retired in the ’80s to Eugene, where she performed at churches and bookstores.
In her later years, her fans were less from the Christian and gospel worlds than those who loved strange and obscure music, the site says.
Little Marcy’s “hit” is a song about a warm, soft cat called “I Love Little Pussy,” which many KWVA-DJs play on their shows.
[Thanks to Marc Time]
Wow! I could have sworn that she had died a long time ago.
I do remember someone I know who had personally interviewed her over a decade ago told me that she had died of cancer shortly after the interview was published (in Cool and Strange Music, if memory serves).
He said she was really sweet. My friend brought along his (then) very young son and at the conclusion of the interview, Marcy went to her closet and retrieved the Little Marcy puppet and performed a song for the patient toddler.
I would love to read that interview, but Cool and Strange is in limbo, as I believe the publisher lost control of the magazine’s archives.
Maybe some intrepid collector will scan it.
Cool and Strange Music’s editor Dana Countryman is on Facebook, maybe he can help you.