Before Mickey Mouse Club's Britney and Justin, There Was Tiffini

Tiffini Hale, who performed in late '80s reboot of variety show and in Disney's The Party, dead at 46
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2021 11:00 AM CST

When The All New Mickey Mouse Club, a reboot of sorts of the popular '50s variety show, debuted in 1989 on the startup Disney Channel, Tiffini Hale was one of the original cast members, preceding the likes of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, and Ryan Gosling. She went on to also perform with Disney pop group The Party, which put out a handful of studio albums and greatest hit collections, including a cover of Dokken's "In My Dreams," per Entertainment Weekly. Now, sad news from the Disney arena. "It is with the heaviest of broken hearts that we share the sad news of the passing of our beloved sister, Tiffini Talia Hale," a Facebook post from her Party bandmates announced on Thursday, adding that Hale had been in a coma after going into cardiac arrest earlier this month. The post notes she died on Christmas morning.

Hale appeared on the All New Mickey Mouse Club on and off until the series ended in 1995, including in performances with The Party—which stands for "Positive Attitude Reflects Today's Youth," per E! Online—alongside bandmates Chase Hampton, Deedee Magno Hall, Damon Pampolina, and Albert Jeune-Pierre Fields. The Party broke up in 1993 and reunited in 2013, though without Hale, notes CNN. Hampton posted a tribute to Hale on Instagram on Thursday, noting that "the wish of most young girls in the 90's was to be as sweet, as cool, as talented and gorgeous as Tiffini Hale." He added: "Part of her magic was that she never knew how incredible she truly was. ... I'm so incredibly torn to know I will never be able to hug her tight again ... I know we all are." (More celebrity death stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X