Artist Bio

(Bio as of June 2008)

Fats Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an African American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. He was born Thomas Wright Waller in New York City and studied classical piano and organ before apprenticing himself to legendary Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson. Mr. Johnson introduced Mr. Waller to the world of rent parties (a party with a piano player, designed to help pay the rent by charging the guests), and he soon developed a performing career. He was an excellent pianist—now usually considered one of the very best who ever played in the stride style—but his songwriting and his lovable, roguish stage personality overshadowed his playing. Before his solo career, he played with many performers, from Erskine Tate to Bessie Smith, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, Fats Waller and His Rhythm. Among his songs are “Squeeze Me” (1919), “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929), “Blue Turning Grey Over You” (1930), “Honeysuckle Rose” (1929), “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” (1929) and “Jitterbug Waltz” (1942). He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf and had a commercially successful career, which according to some music critics eclipsed his great musical talent. His nickname came about because he weighed nearly 300 pounds and his weight and drinking are believed to have contributed to his death. Mr. Waller also made a successful tour of the British Isles in the late 1930s, and appeared in one of the earliest BBC Television broadcasts. He also appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably Stormy Weather in 1943. With Razaf he wrote “What Did I Do (To Be So Black and Blue)?” (1929), which became a hit for Louis Armstrong. This song, a searing treatment of racism, calls into question the accusations of “shallow entertainment” leveled at both Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Waller. On December 15, 1943, at age 39, Waller died aboard an eastbound train in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri, following a west coast engagement.

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