TMS Retro: Who is Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer'?

There are some classic songs where it feels like everyone is rumored to supposedly be the source of inspiration. Led Zeppelin’s ‘Going to California,’ Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ and Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain,’ are a few classics off the top of my head. Another big one is Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer,’ about a pretty, young, bright girl who marries a musician. Since ‘Tiny Dancer’ is considered one of classic rock’s greatest ballads, there is a lot of gossip on how it was written and for whom. Many of the claims come from fans, journalists and even some people who actually don’t have anything to do with Elton or his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. A popular myth is that ‘Tiny Dancer’ might be based on short-lived Hollywood fashion designer Jeannie Franklyn, known as Genie the Tailor to her clients. The lively, free-spirited young woman with her pixie cut and stylish wardrobe was Hollywood’s go-to seamstress in the late 1960s; and famous for providing custom made clothes for celebrities, a lot of whom were musicians/performers like Mark Lindsay, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and Micky Dolenz. This along with her preference for dating men in the music scene naturally makes her seem like a possible fit for ‘Tiny Dancer.’ “Blue jeaned baby, LA lady, seamstress for the band.” But, no, this actually isn’t the case, as Genie sadly died during a bus accident in May 1969, nearly a whole year before Elton and Bernie would visit SoCal for the first time.

(via pinterest.com)

Quite a few Guns ‘n’ Roses fans have noticed Ola Hudson, the mother of the hard rock band’s guitarist, Slash [real name Saul Hudson], also shares a lot of similarities to the subject of the John-Taupin song. Like Genie, Ola was a fashion designer for many A-list music acts including Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, David Bowie and the Pointer Sisters in the mid-‘60s to late 1970s. Ola was even training to be a professional dancer before switching to fashion after Slash was born. Surely, this is the ballerina dancing in the sand Elton sings about in concert? Nope. Ola had plenty of run-ins with showbusiness legends, but apparently Bernie and Elton weren’t two of them. In her first memoir, ‘I’m With the Band’ from 1987, renowned ‘supergroupie’ Pamela des Barres ponders if Elton and Bernie caught wind of her growing presence in the music community because she liked to dance, would sometimes sew shirts as presents for her celeb conquests and did marry a rockstar, Michael des Barres [albeit six years after Elton recorded ‘Tiny Dancer’]. But then again, no. Although Genie, Ola and Pamela have a lot in common with the words of the love song—and these days Bernie himself plays it coy by only calling ‘Tiny Dancer’ a love letter to ‘all’ the young women he and Elton knew in California—the real story is actually pretty simple.

(via commons.wikipedia.org)

You can literally find the answer to who was Bernie’s muse on Elton’s 1971 LP ‘Madman Across the Water,’ where ‘Tiny Dancer’ debuted as the opening track. Inside the album sleeves are the lyrics to all of the songs on the album, and below the words to ‘Dancer’ is a photo of a young lady with the caption: “With love to Maxine.” This is in reference to Maxine Feibelman, Bernie’s first wife and girlfriend at the time of composition. Maxine was an LA County native who met the songwriter on that 1970 US trip he took with Elton, and the two quickly found a liking to each other. It’s amusing these rumors on who exactly inspired Bernie have lasted so long, since Elton is one of the most successful music artists of all time, and many people own copies of ‘Madman.’ And despite Bernie’s weak attempts at slightly rewriting history, there are at least two old Rolling Stone interviews from the mid-1970s where the lyricist candidly reveals he wrote the song for Maxine as well. In a 2019 New York Post interview, the ex-wife herself says she always knew the song was about her, since she danced ballet when she was little and would sew patches on the clothes of Elton, Bernie and Elton’s back-up band while she was Mrs. Taupin from 1971 to 1976. Some articles and biographies suggest Maxine was a professional tailor like Genie and Ola. But the impression I get is that this was mostly a favor/hobby of Maxine’s rather than career; since she’s only ever been associated with Elton and Bernie, and hasn’t really name-dropped any other famous clients she might have had.

(Mike Maloney / Mirrorpix)

Like how it usually goes with famous couples, Bernie and Maxine’s relationship started with glitz and fortune, before eventually ending messily [in this case, Maxine suddenly leaving Bernie for his friend and Elton’s bassist Kenny Passarelli]. We then got some bitter John-Taupin break-up songs from the divorce; and Bernie shadily commented Maxine was “very happy with my bass player” during a 1980 People Magazine article while promoting his solo LP ‘He Who Rides the Tiger,’ which features Kenny on bass. After her marriage to Bernie, Maxine went back into the obscurity of ordinary life, but is still occasionally present at Elton related events. She’s now among the ranks of Pattie Boyd and Rosanna Arquette, as well as fellow John-Taupin muse Marilyn Monroe, as an influence on one of pop/rock music’s all-time great anthems. Interestingly, ‘Tiny Dancer’ wasn’t initially a hit as a promotional single and instead gained attention from being featured in movies: Floyd Mutrux’s Aloha, Bobby & Rose (1975) and, of course, Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000). Which just goes to show the power of the arts.

It’s a testament to how well written and timeless ‘Tiny Dancer’ is that so many women feel connected to the classic, whether legitimate girlfriend to avid fangirl. You don’t become iconic by being restrictive, and Elton and Bernie’s efforts are no exception. Music fans, and especially young women just like Maxine was, will always enjoy and appreciate ‘Tiny Dancer.’