![]() Frank Sinatra, for one, was taken with the young singer's accomplished sound and arranged for her (and only her) to open for him on his December tour of Sydney, Australia. Timi's emotional interpretations of these songs were a welcome departure from the strong male voices associated with the best-known previous versions disc jockeys sometimes referred to her as "Miss Timi Yuro" so there would be no doubt she was female ( Toni Fisher had endured a similar kind of nonsense, though in her case the gender-prefix remained). On the strength of "Hurt" (and I'd venture to guess this song alone), she was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy award early the following year. ![]() "Hurt" hit the top ten in September 1961 and its flip side, "I Apologize" (a Billy Eckstine hit from '51), also received a considerable amount of airplay. He and arranger Belford Hendricks (the two had spearheaded many hits at Mercury for Brook Benton, Dinah Washington and others) brought out the best in the Fairfax grad with a result somewhat unique for the time, as she varied timbre (deep and mature, young and vulnerable) while adding spoken asides. The timing was right for Clyde Otis, working independent of his regular job as head of A&R at Mercury Records, to help Timi land her first hit single while establishing himself with the company. In early 1961 she suggested "Hurt" (a Jimmie Crane-Al Jacobs song, it had been a hit for Roy Hamilton in 1954), but executives at the label just weren't feeling it. A certain amount of experimentation took place as she made demos in different styles when asked about some of these early recordings, Timi called them "awful hillbilly things" and indicated she was happy they were never released. For some reason, Bennett had a hard time figuring out how to market the still-teenage vocalist. Sonny Knight (the singer best known for his hit "Confidential"), moonlighting as a talent scout for Liberty Records, caught one of her performances in 1959 and recommended her to the label, though several months passed before company president Al Bennett decided to give her a shot. Her parents opened a restaurant and while the Italian eatery struggled at first, business improved markedly after Timi began singing there regularly. Doors would continue to open for her quite easily. ![]() While attending Fairfax High, Timi sang with the school's a cappella choir and girls' glee club while working after school as a waitress her grown-up vocal sound, an uncanny knack for phrasing and fearlessness in auditions led to a few weekend nightclub gigs at age 16, despite her five foot height and youthful appearance. When the family moved to Los Angeles in 1952, the 12-year-old began studying with the great Lillian Rosedale Goodman, an accomplished singer, songwriter, pianist and vocal coach. Rosemary Timotea Yuro was constantly singing and her never-take-no-for-an-answer Italian mom arranged for young "Timi" to take voice lessons not long after she began elementary school on Chicago's West Side. Edith Yuro had confidence in her daughter's obvious talent from the beginning.
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