Poster advertising Fats Waller's performance at Empire Theatre at Finsbury Park

Fats Waller (May 21, 1904–December 15, 1943), born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer. He was the youngest of four children born to Adaline Locket Waller and the Reverend Edward Martin Waller. Fats Waller started playing the piano when he was six-years-old and graduated to the organ of his father's church four years later. At the age of fourteen he was playing the organ at Harlem's Lincoln Theater and within twelve months he had composed his first rag. Waller's first piano solos ("Muscle Shoals Blues" and "Birmingham Blues") were recorded in October 1922 when he was only 18 years old. Waller composed many novelty swing tunes in the 1920s and 1930s and sold them for relatively small sums. When the compositions became hits, other songwriters claimed them as their own. Many standards are alternatively and sometimes controversially attributed to Waller. Over 400 songs were copyrighted by Waller, many of which were co-written with Andy Razaf. He died from pneumonia in 1943.