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Fats Waller Biography
Pianist / Bandleader / Jazz Musician
Name at birth: Thomas Wright Waller
Fats Waller played stride piano and pipe organ, beginning his career making player piano rolls in the 1920s. He accompanied singers on the vaudeville stage (including Bessie Smith) and wrote hit songs such as "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose." Waller's rollicking style and sense of humor made him a popular star, and his output was tremendous. He had a reputation for wild living, and it eventually caught up to him: he developed pneumonia and died on a train near Kansas City at the age of 39.
Extra credit: Waller's last performance was in the 1943 film Stormy Weather.
Other jazz greats include Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Artie Shaw.
Four Good Links
Fats Waller
Biography from BBC Radio's jazz department
Fats Waller
Career profile from the PBS online companion to their film Jazz
Fats Waller
Biography with selected sound samples
Fats Waller
Selected song lists and brief profile
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
15 December 1943
(Pneumonia, age 39)
Best Known As
Joyous piano player who wrote "Ain't Misbehavin'"