PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - A legendary singer offered a touching tribute to one of the victims of the Parkland massacre. Now, her father is sharing his gratitude.
It was a very special moment for a South Florida father.
“Next song to the memory of Jaime Guttenberg,” said Elton John.
Elton John dedicated his song “Tiny Dancer” at one of his concerts to Jaime Guttenberg, who lost her life in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting.
Her father, Fred Guttenberg, said the song is special to him.
“The song ‘Tiny Dancer’ was a couple of things. A, it was my song with Jaime, but B, Jaime was a competitive dancer. She has danced to that song,” he said.
Guttenberg said his sister was going to an Elton John concert in Pittsburgh last Friday, and he was hoping to grab the Rocket Man’s attention.
“I put out a tweet, and I tagged Elton letting him know that my sister would be at the concert and letting him know why that song was meaningful to me and hoping that he would get it,” said Guttenberg.
He said someone who was friends with John saw the tweet and emailed him.
Later that night, the artist performed “Tiny Dancer” in honor of Jaime.
“It really upset me to think that someone so beautiful and so young could have been spent in such an awful way, so this is for Jaime, and thank you for dancing to my song,” said John.
Guttenberg got the news from his sister at the concert.
“She called me during ‘Tiny Dancer’ and said, ‘Listen.’ and I’ll clean it up, but she said ‘He f’ing did it, he talked about Jaime and right now he’s singing ‘Tiny dancer,’ and so I was actually listening live as it was happening,” he said.
When he watched videos of the moment the next morning…
“I just started crying and just shaking,” said Guttenberg. “You can’t imagine how much that song meant to Jaime and I. Anyone who knows my daughter knows she was a competitive dancer, but she was not big in stature. She was my tiny dancer.”
The father said he’s grateful to Elton John for honoring Jaime and speaking out against gun violence.
“When the world of entertainment steps up and talks about gun violence and more importantly, the victims of gun violence, the loss because of gun violence, it’s a big deal because we need to make sure that we don’t let people forget, and in a really beautiful way, Elton John was able to do that, and I’ll be forever grateful,” said Guttenberg.
Guttenberg said when he’s down, “Tiny Dancer” will end up playing on the radio. He considers it a sign from his daughter.
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