Timi Yuro

Born Aug 4, 1941 in Chicago, IL

Known as "the little girl with the big voice," Timi Yuro's booming, resonant vocals were sometimes mistaken for being black, being a man's, or both. Her voice was indeed mammoth, and her delivery astonishingly mature, on her debut single, "Hurt." This 1961 version of the pop standard reached number four and was followed by a brief period of stardom in the early '60s. Too pop in orientation to be called a rock singer, too conscious of rock and soul trends to be pigeonholed into what was then called the adult market, Yuro's undoubted talents never fully jibed with her material. While there was soul in her voice, it was of the Dinah Washington or Nancy Wilson sort, with perhaps more of a bend for straight pop than pop/rock. Over the course of the few years following "Hurt," she actually found her greatest success on the easy listening charts, but also dabbled in girl group pop, R&B, Gene Pitney-like ballads, and Patsy Cline-like country. She scored several minor hits during this time, the biggest of which was the most soulful: "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)"; reaching number 12 in the U.S., it was covered by the Small Faces a few years later as the B-side of their first single. Continuing to record throughout the '60s and into the '70s, she experienced little success after leaving the Liberty label in 1964.

Discography:

Album
Timi Yuro
2000 Sings Willie Nelson
1976 The Timi Yuro Album
1969 Live at PJ's
1968 Interlude [Original Soundtrack]
1968 Something Bad on My Mind
1968 In the Beginning
1964 The Amazing Timi Yuro
1963 Make the World Go Away
1963 What's a Matter Baby
1962 Soul!
1962 Let Me Call You Sweetheart