Waller moved in with the family of pianist Russell B.T. His greatest success came with " Fats Waller & his Rhythm".
Born on May 21, 1904, in New York City, Fats Waller was influenced as a teenager by jazz great James P. Johnson. He learned how to play the piano when he was a child, and when he was only ten years old, he began to play the organ at his father’s church.
It was revived on Broadway in 1988. After the gig, he boarded a New York-bound train to return home, but his health took a turn for the worst as he approached the Kansas City, Missouri, area. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by Al Capone. He used comedy to appeal to the masses, writing hit songs such as "Ain’t Misbehavin'" and appearing in the 1943 film "Stormy Weather." The couple welcomed son Thomas Waller Jr. the following year.During this time, Waller wrote and performed for revues, including 1927’s "Keep Shufflin.'" He also forged a fruitful partnership with Andy Razaf, writing his hits "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain’t Misbehavin'" with him. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. Performed by five African American actors, it included such songs as "Honeysuckle Rose", "This Joint Is Jumpin'", and "Ain't Misbehavin'".New York, New York, United StatesRecordings of Fats Waller were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honour recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance".Fats Waller: Grammy Hall of Fame AwardsConnect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. He learned to play piano at the age of 6, and within a few years was also learning the reed organ, string bass and violin. Lawrence was a British military officer who took part in the Great Arab Revolt and later wrote the memoir 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Born In. Waller has won a number of posthumous honors as well, including inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1989, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. Early life. A jazz pianist, performer, and composer, Fats Waller was born on May 21, 1904, in New York City. A masterful stride pianist, a playful vocalist, and an influential jazz figure who was enormously popular in the '30s and '40s.
Moreover, the 1978 Broadway Musical “Ain't Misbehavin'” featured a number of Waller’s hits and opened again on Broadway a decade later after its original run of more than 1,600 performances.Waller’s fame grew as he made his foray into radio, appearing on the New York City programs "Paramount on Parade" and "Radio Roundup" from 1930 to 1931. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. (The show and a star of the show, Nell Carter, won Tony Awards.) He proved a gifted piano player and songwriter, delivering such jazz standards as "Ain't Misbehavin'." In the 1930s, Waller's fame reached new heights following his performances on radio and in film. According to rumor, Waller played for three days. Waller's first published composition, "Squeeze Me", was published in 1924. His father served as a reverend at a local Baptist church. Coincidentally, as the train with the body of Waller stopped in Kansas City, so stopped a train with his dear friend Louis Armstrong on board.Waller played with many performers, from Nat Shilkret (on Victor 21298-A) and Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, "Fats Waller and his Rhythm".His playing once put him at risk of injury. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. Fats Waller, byname of Thomas Wright Waller, (born May 21, 1904, New York City, New York, U.S.—died December 15, 1943, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.), American pianist and composer who was one of the few outstanding jazz musicians to win wide commercial fame, though this was achieved at a cost of obscuring his purely musical ability under a cloak of broad comedy. He began his career in Harlem as a teenager, playing organ for silent movies at the Lincoln Theatre. Please try again.Waller took advantage of the many opportunities that came his way, but his frenzied schedule and long-time alcohol abuse began to affect his health. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999.Waller … Thomas "Fats" Waller is one of the more important of the modern pianist-composers. He then spent three years as a performer on the Cincinnati radio show "Fats Waller's Rhythm Club," coming back to New York in 1934 to appear as a regular on the"Rhythm Club" radio show.