Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs " Basin Street Blues", " I Ain't Got Nobody", " Royal Garden Blues", " I've Found a New Baby", " Everybody Loves My Baby", " Tishomingo Blues", and many others.

Biography

Spencer Williams was born in Vidalia,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, United States. He was educated at St. Charles University in New Orleans. Williams was performing in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

by 1907, and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

about 1916. After arriving in New York, he co-wrote several songs with

Anton Lada Anton Lada (September 25, 1890 – August 28, 1944) was a ragtime, jazz and dance musician. He was a drummer. He played with and was the manager of the Louisiana Five. He recorded on Columbia Records and toured. He performed for dancing and vaude ...

of the Louisiana Five. Among those songs was " Basin Street Blues", which became one of his most popular songs and is still recorded by musicians to this day. Williams toured Europe with bands from 1925 to 1928; during this time he wrote for Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Williams then returned to New York for a few years. At the end of the 1920s, Williams was tried but then acquitted on a charge of murder. In 1932, he moved to Europe, spending many years in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

before moving to Stockholm in 1951. Williams was married to Pat Castleton (a stage name of Agnes Bage). They had two daughters together called Della and Lindy. His hit songs include " Basin Street Blues", " I Ain't Got Nobody", " Royal Garden Blues", "Mahogany Hall Stomp", " I've Found a New Baby", " Everybody Loves My Baby", "Shimmy-Sha-Wobble", "Boodle Am Shake", " Tishomingo Blues", "Fireworks", "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll", "Arkansas Blues", plus the dirty blues standard " Georgia Grind", "Paradise Blues", "When Lights Are Low", and "My Man o' War". Williams returned to New York in 1957, before his death in

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

on July 14, 1965. Williams was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

References

External links

Spencer Williams recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings 1889 births 1965 deaths American jazz composers American jazz pianists American male pianists Jazz musicians from New Orleans Jazz musicians from New York (state) American male jazz composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists {{US-jazz-pianist-stub