Background
He was born Robert Higginbotham, to Leroy and Mary Higginbotham, the fifth of eleven children, in Springfield, Ohio, United States.
He was born Robert Higginbotham, to Leroy and Mary Higginbotham, the fifth of eleven children, in Springfield, Ohio, United States.
He is best known for the 1964 hit song, "Hi-Heel Sneakers", that went to Number. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and peaked at Number. 23 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart.
Tucker"s follow-up release, "Long Tall Shorty", was less successful.
Nevertheless, musicians that played on his albums included Louisiana Red, Willie Dixon and Donny Hathaway. Tucker left the music industry in the late 1960s, taking a position as a real estate agent in New Jersey.
He also did freelance writing for a local newspaper in East Orange, New Jersey, writing of the plight and ignorance of black males in America, and the gullibility and exploitation of African Americans in general by the white-dominated media. Tucker currently has four albums selling in Europe and over the internet, through the Red Lightnin" record label.