Like is great great grandfather, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German poet who wrote "Faust", Bertie Higgins is a storyteller. He was born Elbert Joseph Higgins of Portuguese, Irish and German descent and raised in the picturesque Greek community of Tarpon Springs, Florida. Bertie, who once supported himself as a sponge diver, began his career in show business at the age of twelve as a ventriloquist. He won top prizes in local talent contests and became a favorite at school assemblies and clubs around Tampa Bay Lightfoot, Cat Stevens and Jimmy Buffet were Bertie's primary sources of inspiration and he remains friends with Gordon and Jimmy today. During this period, he also met and became a protege of the late actor/director, Richard Boone, who saw Bertie's writing potential and tutored him in screen writing. For the past several years, Bertie, with his excellent band, has toured extensively around the globe. He has received rave reviews and accolades from the music industry and his fans alike. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. Among other things, he has owned a successful restaurant in the Florida Keys, written music for David Letterman and Burt Reynolds, and has made numerous TV talk show and music show appearances.
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