Roger Williams (born Louis Jacob Weertz, October 1, 1924 – October 8, 2011) was anAmerican popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.[1]
He was born to a Lutheran minister, the Rev. Frederick J. Weertz (1891–1980) and a music teacher, Dorothea Bang Weertz (1895–1985), in Omaha, Nebraska. The family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, before his first birthday. He first played the piano at age three.[2] In high school he became interested in boxing, mainly at his father's insistence, and only returned to music after breaking his nose several times and sustaining several other injuries.
He majored in piano at Drake University in Des Moines, but claimed he was expelled for playing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the practice room.[3] Weertz entered the United States Navy and served in World War II. While still in the Navy, he earned a bachelor's degree from Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in 1950. Afterwards, Weertz re-enrolled at Drake, where he earned his master's degree. He then moved to New York City to attend Juilliard,[2] where he studied jazz piano under Lennie Tristano and Teddy Wilson.
One night, Weertz was scheduled to play as an accompanist for a Juilliard student who was to sing on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. When the singer failed to appear, Weertz went on as a piano soloist and won the night's contest. He was heard by David Kapp, founder of Kapp Records. Kapp was so impressed that he signed the pianist, changing his name to "Roger Williams" after the founder of Rhode Island. In addition to the Godfrey program, Williams also won a talent contest on Dennis James' program, Chance of a Lifetime.[4]
In 1955 Williams recorded "Autumn Leaves", the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard's popular music chart.[1] It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was the fourth #1 song of the "rock era," which unofficially began with the ascension of "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets into the top spot.[5] In 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song "Born Free" from the motion picture soundtrack. His other hits include "Near You", "Till", "The Impossible Dream", "Yellow Bird", "Maria", and "The Theme from Somewhere in Time". Billboard magazine ranks him as the top selling piano recording artist in history with 18 gold and platinum albums to his credit. Williams was known as the "Pianist to the Presidents" having played for nine administrations beginning withHarry S. Truman.[2] His last White House performance was in November 2008 for a luncheon hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.
His interest in the public stems from a boyhood experience in Des Moines, Iowa. After a piano concert by the Polish genius Ignacy Jan Paderewski, young Roger waited for 45 minutes outside in the freezing cold to meet his idol. When the pianist finally appeared it was to rush to a waiting automobile. "I didn't even get near enough to touch him or get an autograph," says Williams. "It was then and there I resolved that if ever I became famous I would never disappoint anyone who wanted to talk to me." [6]
On his 75th birthday, Williams performed his first 12 hour piano marathon. He performed the marathon at Steinway Hall in New York City and the Nixon, Carter and Reagan Presidential Libraries. His Steinway & Sons "Gold Steinway"[7] grand piano was on tour for public display and entertainment during 2007–2008.
In 2010 Roger Williams was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. At that time, Autumn Leaves was the best-selling piano solo record of all time and the only one ever to top the Billboard charts [8].
資料來源:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(pianist)| 鋼琴大師羅傑威廉斯辭世 | |
| 2011/10/09 22:38:24 | |
（中央社洛杉磯9日綜合外電報導）著名鋼琴家羅傑威 廉斯（Roger Williams）昨天在美國洛杉磯家中逝世， 享壽87歲。他的前公關魏考克斯（Rob Wilcox）表示， 死因是胰臟癌引起的併發症。 據「紐約時報」報導，羅傑威廉斯最為人熟知的樂 曲像是「秋葉」（Autumn Leaves）及「生而自由」（ Born Free），其豐富的改編版本成為1950至1960年代 紅極一時的名曲，而他直到80多歲時，都還持續舉行演 奏會。 羅傑威廉斯曾到全美各地的舞台表演，從卡內基音 樂廳（Carnegie Hall）到露天音樂廳（Hollywood Bowl），且多年來是拉斯維加斯米高梅大酒店（MGM Grand）和熱帶雨林大酒店（Tropicana）演出的主秀。 他曾改編1966年電影「獅子與我」（Born Free） 主題曲，由管弦樂隊及合唱團伴奏，把非洲大草原的廣 闊表達得淋漓盡致，該曲在當年登上美國「告示牌」（ Billboard）流行樂排行榜第7名，該專輯連續14週在榜 上前40名。「獅子與我」是關於一頭小雌獅在肯亞被當 成寵物撫養的故事。 據美聯社（AP）報導，羅傑威廉斯1955年的名曲「 秋葉」，是唯一1首登上「告示牌」排行榜第1名的鋼琴 演奏曲，為史上最暢銷的鋼琴曲，至今已賣出200萬張 。 羅傑威廉斯曾為多位總統演奏，從杜魯門（Harry S. Truman）到小布希（George W. Bush），因而有「 總統鋼琴家」（pianist to the presidents）之稱。 他同時也是美國前總統卡特（Jimmy Carter）的好 友，生日在同一天，兩人滿80歲的那年，威廉斯在位於 亞特蘭大的「吉米卡特總統圖書館與博物館」（Jimmy Carter Library and Museum），馬拉松演奏長達12小 時，當時卡特也到場。 羅傑威廉斯本名魏茲（Louis Wertz），出生於美 國內布拉斯加州（Nebraska），3歲開始學鋼琴，9歲就 精通多種樂器，並且可以彈奏任何聽過的樂曲。 後來他搬到紐約，在茱莉亞音樂學院（Julliard School of Music）學習爵士樂，在許多受歡迎的廣播 節目中贏得演奏比賽大獎。 他成為當時幾個頂尖電視節目受歡迎的來賓，包括 艾德蘇利文秀（The Ed Sullivan Show）、派瑞柯莫秀 （The Perry Como Show），以及史蒂夫艾倫秀（The Steve Allen Show）。 羅傑威廉斯是首位在好萊塢星光大道（Hollywood Walk of Fame）留名的鋼琴演奏家，並獲史坦威鋼琴公 司（Steinway & Sons）頒發終身成就獎。（譯者：中 央社張雅亭）1001009 | |
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