(May 21st 1904 - December 15th 1943)

Thomas 'Fats' Waller, born in New York City in 1904, was the youngest son of a minister who started out playing organ in his father's church. He possessed an undeniable natural talent and debuted at Harlem's Lincoln Theater when he was fourteen. Waller went on to studied under James P. Johnson and recorded his first piano solos in 1922. Fats Waller established himself among the most prominent of stride pianists, remembered as an especially gifted composer and songwriter over the course of his all too brief career.