(1904–1943)
As a notable jazz pianist and organist with a big personality, Fats Waller’s charisma and subversive songwriting solidified his reputation as a versatile musician and composer. He was born with the name Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904, in New York City. His father was an outdoor minister, and Waller accompanied these services by singing and playing a keyboard instrument called a harmonium. He also practiced piano in school and when he was 15 he started a new position playing the organ for the Lincoln Theater. When Waller’s mother died in 1920, his family moved in with pianist Russell Brooks. Brooks introduced Waller to stride pianist James P. Johnson, and Johnson began teaching Waller to play in this style.
Soon, Waller was performing in clubs, theaters, and parties throughout the city. In 1922, he recorded his first solo pieces with Okeh Records—“Muscle Shoal Blues” and “Birmingham Blues.” He also published a few pieces and started an extended professional relationship with Victor Records in 1926. As a songwriter, Waller worked with several collaborators, including Andy Razaf, Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams. Waller and Razaf worked on several musicals together including Keep Shufflin’ in 1928 and Connie’s Hot Chocolates, which features the hit song “Ain’t Misbehavin,” in 1929. Although Waller was famous for his comedic antics in song recordings, eventually he was also recognized for using these performances to make satirical commentary on the subjects of these songs.
In addition to performing and writing music, Waller maintained a significant presence in broadcasting and film. He had radio shows on WOR in New York in 1931 and WLW in Cincinnati from 1932 to 1934. Much of Waller’s music was also featured in films, and the composer himself graced the screen in movies like King of Burlesque (1935), Hooray for Love (1935) and Stormy Weather (1943). Waller remained an active part of the music and film industries until his death on December 15, 1943.
Elizabeth Durrant
Elizabeth Durrant recently received an M.A. in Musicology from the University of North Texas. She also earned a B.A. in English Literature (St. Mary’s College of Maryland) and a B.S. in Voice (Towson University)—as a result she is dedicated to exploring intersections between these disciplines. Her master’s thesis is titled “Chicago Renaissance Women: Black Feminism in the Careers and Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.” Elizabeth plans to pursue her PhD in musicology and continue exploring her interests in Black and female composers, twentieth-century neoromantic music, and American art song.
Sources
Joyner, David. “Waller, Fats” In Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African
American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks
Higginbotham, 505-507. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Shipton, Alyn. Fats Waller: The Cheerful Little Earful. New York: Continuum, 2002.
Shipton, Alyn and Bill Dobbins. “Waller, Fats [Thomas Wright].” Oxford Music Online. Last
modified in 2001. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.48692.
Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982.
