[3] Although none of her seven single releases made the national charts,[4] her early version of "Just a Little Bit" preceded bigger success for the song.
[1][6] She began her singing career in the mid-1940s, fronting Al Smith's eight-piece jazz and rhythm and blues band in her home town.
[6][5] Her backing outfit went on to become the house band for labels including Chance, Parrot and Vee-Jay, and turned out over eighty recording sessions between 1952 and 1959, but all of them without Tiny Topsy's involvement.
[7] Another track recorded was "Miss You So", with the resultant single release billed as by Tiny Topsy and the Five Chances.
Her next single was "Come On, Come On, Come On" b/w "Ring Around My Finger", when she was again backed by the vocal group the Charms,[8] who this time got credit on the resulting label.
[6] Tiny Topsy died on August 16, 1964, in Cook County Hospital in Chicago, at the age of 34 of an intracerebral hemorrhage, following an evening of performing at her husband's club.