Fats Waller was the son of a preacher and learned to play the organ in church with his mother. In 1918 he won a talent contest playing James P. Johnson's Carolina Shout which he learned from watching a pianola play the song. He would later take piano lessons from Johnson. Fats began his recording career in 1922 and made a living playing rent parties, as an organist at movie theatres and as an accompanist for various vaudeville acts.

Read more about Fats Waller and His Rhythm on Last.fm.


User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.