Maybe at the back of my fading grey matter I might be slightly aware of Winifred Atwell - But last night on BBC2 I caught a bit of the piano greats show and Winifred played a song that again I can just about recall - Then you look at some history of her - First black artist to reach #1 - So far she is still the only woman to have a #1 hit as an instrumentalist - Spent time at the Royal Academy of Music in London - But it appears as though her 'fame' at the time was playing honky tonk/boogie boogie style piano
I dare say the likes of Jools Holland are totally aware of Winifred but kind of sad that most of us, me included, know/knew nothing about her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHfeRoX89g
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It is kind of sad that she was the first black artist to reach #1 - The first and still only female artist to have a #1 instrumental hit and many will not know who she is - And certainly little is ever mentioned/broadcast of her achievements on the bigger radio stations of today -
I was going to mention Mrs Mills and Hilda Woodward (not Fletcher if Wiki is correct).
Let's not forget Bobby Crush :-)
Ah. I was born in 1952 so just a few years difference but enough for her star to have waned, certainly by the late sixties.