Spencer Williams

Spencer Williams ( born October 14, 1889 in New Orleans, † July 14, 1965 in Flushing, New York ) was an American musician (piano, vocals) and composer in the field of early jazz and early popular music.

Life and work

Williams, whose mother died early, was raised by his godmother, the madam Lulu White, the legendary Mahogany Hall on ( which he later his Mahogany Hall Stomp dedicated ). He studied at the St. Charles University his hometown music and soon became a respected Ragtime Pianist

1907 concerted Williams in Chicago; about 1916 he moved to New York City. There he wrote to Anton Lada of the Louisiana Five first songs and more songs with Fats Waller, about Squeeze Me (1918). In 1925 he accompanied Josephine Baker on their first European tour to return to America after three years. In the next few years he worked with Lonnie Johnson and Teddy Bunn. In 1936 he went to England, where he worked with Benny Carter ( When Lights Are Low ). He also spent much of the 1950s in Sweden, In 1957 he returned to the United States.

Williams is the composer of numerous jazz and blues tracks - come from him, for example, Basin Street Blues, I Is not Got Nobody, Royal Garden Blues, I've Found a New Baby, Everybody Loves My Baby, Tishomingo Blues or Careless Love, the he wrote in part with ( the unrelated ) Clarence Williams.

Williams was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.