Winifred Atwell

Winifred Atwell ( Tunapuna ( Trinidad ), February 27 or April 27 in 1910 or 1914 [1] - Sydney ( Australia ), February 28 1983 ) was a Boogiewoogie- and ragtime pianist, which include in Britain , Australia and the United States much achieved success. ==[Biography  edit ] == Atwell was born in Tunapuna in Trinidad and Tobago and studied medicine, because she would later work in the family business, a pharmacy . At a young age, she played the piano for Americans at the airbase and they wrote the song now called Five Finger Boogie. In the early 1940s she moved to the United States to study music, and in 1946 she moved to London where she attended the academy bank while playing in clubs and theaters to finance her studies, culminating in the London Palladium .In 1946 she married Lew Levison.

When they occurred to someone at the Casino Theatre, she was contracted directly, then scored several hits including the hugely successful Black and White rag. Then she came over Hugh Mendl at Decca .

Atwell played at gigs usually first on one wing and then her "other piano", a threadbare worn upright piano which her ​​husband for fifty shillings in a junk shop bought.

In 1952 her career was at its height, her hands were at Lloyd's of London insurance for a quarter of a million dollars and sold them at Decca 30,000 plates per week, which makes her by far the best selling pianist of her time. She is the only pianist to two gold and two silver plates has on her name and she was the first black artist in Britain who sold a million records.

In 1980 she suffered a stroke, after which they announced a year later in The Mike Walsh Show to retire. From that moment, they only played as organist at her church in Narrabeen. In 1983 she suffered a heart attack after her home was flown in Narrabeen on fire, after which she died. She was buried beside her husband in a cemetery near Lismore (Australia).