Winifred Atwell - Not guitar related - but very very interesting

guitars4you

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

thing

She was a big star on telly when I was a nipper. There was also a white lady pianist on telly all the time called Mrs Mills. Also a male pianist called Russ Conway who had several hits tinkling the ivories. He had some great chunes actually.

rlw

You must be younger than I imagined.  Winifred Atwell was all over the tv during the sixties.  Pretty certain she was on the Billy Cotton Bandshow before either Russ Conway or Mrs Mills.  And always being played on the Light Programme too.

jdgm

Her hands were insured by Lloyd's for a huge sum.  A fine musician who could play classical as well. 

Keith Emerson and Elton John both recalled hearing her on the radio as children.

Her drummer in the 50s was a guy called Colin Bailey who went to the USA and played for years with Joe Pass (and many others). 

idiotwindow

guitars4you said:

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

She's pretty well known – certainly if you are over the age of 50 or so. As well as the TV shows already mentioned, I think one of her recordings was used as the theme tune for Pot Black and she was name checked by the Major and Basil in one of the Fawlty Towers episodes (the joke doesn't really work unless you know who Atwell was).

AntonHunter

I, shamefully, didn't know anything about her until my brother made this album as a tribute to her / reimagining her material.

https://adamfairhall.bandcamp.com/album/winifred-atwell-revisited

guitars4you

rlw said:

You must be younger than I imagined.  Winifred Atwell was all over the tv during the sixties.  Pretty certain she was on the Billy Cotton Bandshow before either Russ Conway or Mrs Mills.  And always being played on the Light Programme too.

I was born in 1959 - So 63 now - I've had music surrounding me all my life as dad was a musician - Pro for a while and in the music business all his life - So you grow up hearing a lot of music etc - I kind of heard something of her, but until now had not really realised who she was - I certainly can't recall much TV from the 60's

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 -

guitars4you

idiotwindow said:

guitars4you said:

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

She's pretty well known – certainly if you are over the age of 50 or so. As well as the TV shows already mentioned, I think one of her recordings was used as the theme tune for Pot Black and she was name checked by the Major and Basil in one of the Fawlty Towers episodes (the joke doesn't really work unless you know who Atwell was).

I know the Pot Black theme tune - just googled it and yes she recorded it 

Funkfingers

guitars4you said:

So far, she is still the only woman to have a #1 hit as an instrumentalist

What about Hilda Fletcher of Lieutenant Pigeon? Mouldy Old Dough. UK#1 in 1972.

scrumhalf

Funkfingers said:

guitars4you said:

So far, she is still the only woman to have a #1 hit as an instrumentalist

What about Hilda Fletcher of Lieutenant Pigeon? Mouldy Old Dough. UK#1 in 1972.

She was 58 at the time and looked about twenty years older. My, how times have changed. 

guitars4you

Funkfingers said:

guitars4you said:

So far, she is still the only woman to have a #1 hit as an instrumentalist

What about Hilda Fletcher of Lieutenant Pigeon? Mouldy Old Dough. UK#1 in 1972.

I assume the stat I quoted/acquired was based on a solo artist not a group

Funkfingers

Fair enough. 

Offset

I remember Winifred Atwell fairly clearly as a kid (same age as you Mark) - I can't remember if it was via my Dad or directly through the radiogram :-)  but it's a name very familiar to me.

I was going to mention Mrs Mills and Hilda Woodward (not Fletcher if Wiki is correct).

Let's not forget Bobby Crush :-)

rlw

guitars4you said:

rlw said:

You must be younger than I imagined.  Winifred Atwell was all over the tv during the sixties.  Pretty certain she was on the Billy Cotton Bandshow before either Russ Conway or Mrs Mills.  And always being played on the Light Programme too.

I was born in 1959 - So 63 now - I've had music surrounding me all my life as dad was a musician - Pro for a while and in the music business all his life - So you grow up hearing a lot of music etc - I kind of heard something of her, but until now had not really realised who she was - I certainly can't recall much TV from the 60's

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 -

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.