Elbert Joseph "Bertie" Higgins (born December 8, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1982, Higgins had a

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

album with '' Just Another Day in Paradise''. It spawned the

hit song A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

", which referenced the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film of the same name and reached No. 8 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart and No. 50 on the ''Billboard'' Country chart.

Early career

Higgins was born in

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

, United States, and is of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Irish and German descent. He once supported himself as a sponge diver, and began his career in show business at the age of twelve as a ventriloquist. He won prizes in local talent contests and became a favorite at school assemblies around

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

, Florida. Higgins has stated that he is related to German poet,

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

. Higgins' first band played proms, homecoming dances, and sock hops. After graduating Tarpon Springs High School, Higgins enrolled in St. Petersburg College to study journalism and fine art. He eventually left college and became a drummer for the

Tommy Roe Thomas David "Tommy" Roe (born May 9, 1942) is a retired American rock and pop singer-songwriter. Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" (1962) and " Dizzy" (1969), Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late ...

band and The Roemans, and played alongside such groups as The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys. Tiring of the rigors of the road and yearning to make his own musical statement, Higgins left The Roemans and returned home to Florida. He put down his drumsticks, picked up a guitar and began crafting music and lyrics. Music producers such as Bob Crewe, Phil Gernhard, and Felton Jarvis took an interest in him and contributed to the growth of the young songwriter. Higgins' talent flourished and he was in demand to play venues throughout the state. During this period, he also met and became a protégé of actor/director Burt Reynolds, who saw Higgins' writing potential and tutored him in screenwriting.

Music career

In 1980, Higgins moved to Atlanta and met record producer Sonny Limbo. He arranged a meeting between Higgins and

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

Bill Lowery, whom Higgins had known through Tommy Roe. Higgins had been working on a song about a failed romance and presented the rough cut to Lowery and Limbo. They helped him perfect the lyrics of the song that became "

" Higgins recorded the master and presented it to Kat Family Records, a newly formed

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

distributing company. After an initial rejection, Kat Family agreed to release the single. The song eventually landed in the '' Billboard'' pop charts at number eight, and in the Billboard adult contemporary charts it reached number one. It also charted in the Billboard country chart. On the strength of the song's success, an album was released titled ''Just Another Day in Paradise''. Other singles followed, such as "Just Another Day in Paradise", "Casablanca", and "Pirates and Poets", but none matched the success domestically of his breakout hit. (The song "Casablanca" went on to become a major hit in the Pacific Rim countries, and "Key Largo" reached number one status in Canada, Australia and other countries internationally.) For the past several years, Higgins and his band have toured extensively around the globe, and he continues to tour on a regular basis in the Pacific Rim and domestically.

Later years

Higgins has served on the Board of Governors of the Atlanta Chapter of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for several years. Besides maintaining a rigorous schedule of one-nighters, he also makes regular appearances on the Las Vegas strip. In recent years, Higgins has moved into film production with his sons Julian and Aaron, producing ''Beast Beneath'' (distributed by Entertainment One), 2009's ''Poker Run'' (also distributed by Entertainment One) and 2012's ''The Colombian Connection'', starring Tom Sizemore and "Christmas in Hollywood".

Legacy

He was inducted into the Florida Music Hall of Fame with a lifetime achievement award in January 2016 along with Jimmy Buffett,

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

and

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

. In 2019 he was also inducted in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame along with such notables as Ernest Hemingway. Jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson recorded a version of the Bertie Higgins original song "Casablanca" for EMI Records. In 2009, "Key Largo" was ranked No. 75 on VH1's ''100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s''. His die-hard fans are known to be called "Boneheads".

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

Official YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Bertie 1944 births Living people People from Tarpon Springs, Florida American male pop singers American soft rock musicians Songwriters from Florida American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Portuguese descent Singers from Florida Epic Records artists American male songwriters