ROGER WILLIAMS

Steinway and Sons is a brand name synonymous with the highest-quality pianos ever made. Two centuries ago, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg built his first fortepiano in his hometown, Wolfshagen, Germany. In 1850, at age 53, he and his family emigrated to New York City and started a company that, after he'd Americanized his name to Henry E. Steinway, successfully competed with, and eventually surpassed, the top U.S. piano-makers of the time. The meticulously-handcrafted instruments, with superior tonal quality using the best materials, were sold as quickly as he could manufacture them. In 1866, performance venue Steinway Hall was opened on 14th Street in the heart of Lower Manhattan. The great Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein was an early supporter of Steinway's grand pianos in the 1870s and, long after Henry's death as his descendants continued to grow the business in the 20th century, the famed Juilliard school began using Steinways exclusively while many high-profile musicians endorsed the brand, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Van Cliburn and even John Lennon, all huge fans and proud owners of Steinways. Popular pianist Roger Williams became what you might call an ambassador for the company; he frequently performed on his specially-made satin ebony grand piano. He's been quoted as saying, "Only my loyal Steinway endures. Be it beaten or caressed, its gorgeous tone remains."

Born Louis Weertz in Omaha, Nebraska on October 1, 1924 (the exact same day as future President Jimmy Carter), the young prodigy began practicing piano at the age of four and found he could easily play by ear. He became familiar with a dozen other musical instruments by the time he was eight. In the mid-1930s, after his family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, the youngster had a 15 minute music program on radio station KRNT-AM 1320, then later moved to WHO-AM 1000, where he met future actor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, working at the time as a sportscaster; the two remained friends their entire lives. Louis's father, Lutheran minister and former professional prize fighter Frederick Weertz, taught his son to box as a self-defense strategy for his upcoming high school years. After a few fights that resulted in a broken nose, Louis decided to stick with being a musician. Around 1939 or '40, he played piano at the recently-opened Babe's Restaurant in Des Moines (run by Alphonse "Babe" Bisignano) for a hard-to-resist nightly wage of six bucks and a heaping plate of spaghetti.

He briefly studied classical piano at Drake University, but got into trouble for playing popular melodies like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and was expelled (certainly one of the most extreme punishments for a non-offensive action). After joining the U.S. Navy ROTC during World War II, he earned an engineering degree at Idaho State University. Then, while in boot camp, he took up boxing again and was voted "top man" by fellow servicemen. Returning to Drake after the war, he completed his masters degree in music and sought further training at New York City's Juilliard school, studying jazz with the likes of pianist Teddy Wilson and other greats.

While at Juilliard, he was asked to accompany a student who'd been scheduled to sing on the immensely popular TV series Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. But the singer failed to show up and, using his birth name, Louis played a piano number and won first place for the night. In 1952 he competed on Chance of a Lifetime, a show hosted by Dennis James that spotlighted professional singers and musicians. This led to a limited deal with MGM Records and instrumental single releases in 1952 and '53 as Lou Weertz, including a remake of the George Gershwin-Ira Gershwin 1930s classic "Love Walked In." In 1954, Jack Kapp founded Kapp Records and signed Weertz, using him initially to play on recording sessions for the label's early artists including Jane Morgan. Kapp suggested he change his name to that of the London-born Roger Williams (who'd founded the colony and state eventually known as Rhode Island more than 300 years earlier); Lou, amazingly, went along with the idea.

Jack had the newly-dubbed Roger prepare an arrangement of "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("The Dead Leaves"), a French song penned ten years earlier by Hungarian-born composer Joseph Kosma. The tune, retitled "Autumn Leaves," was recorded in the summer of 1955 at the end of one of Morgan's sessions. Debuting on the Billboard chart in August, it reached the top ten of the best selling selling singles in September (and remained there until January '56), spending four weeks at number one in October and November. A host of cover versions appeared, five of which reached the chart that fall, the biggest by Mitch Miller on Columbia and Steve Allen with George Cates on Coral. Other versions came from Victor Young on Decca and bandleader/Honeymooners star Jackie Gleason on Capitol. The only vocal rendition (lyrics by Johnny Mercer) was by The Ray Charles Singers on MGM. The first hit for Kapp's upstart label had beaten all the major companies' competition!

Roger Williams

Williams' massive hit surely inspired other pop pianists to ramp up their efforts. In February 1956, just three months after his chart-topping feat, noted producer-arranger-keyboard man Nelson Riddle hit number one with "Lisbon Antigua." Another three months went by and conductor Morris Stoloff reached the apex with a piano-led instrumental, "Moonglow and Theme from 'Picnic'." Shortly afterwards, orchestra leader Hugo Winterhalter and pianist Eddie Heywood just missed the summit with "Canadian Sunset" (Elvis had broken big by that time and "Don't Be Cruel" wasn't ready to budge). Meanwhile, key-pounder Winifred Atwell worked her way to the top the the U.K. charts with "The Poor People of Paris." Rock and roll may have been the most newsworthy musical trend of 1956, but millions of people had a preference for pop piano concertos.

Roger continued hitting with top 40 hits "Wanting You" (an Oscar Hammerstein II-Sigmund Romberg composition) and "Beyond the Sea" (a French tune by Charles Trenet originally titled "La Mer"). These hits were all on the Roger Williams debut album (later titled Autumn Leaves); other top-selling LP releases included Daydreams, the strictly-classical/romantic era project Roger Williams Plays the Wonderful Music of the Masters and his first gold-certified album, Songs of the Fabulous Fifties. It was just the beginning of what would be a seemingly never-ending series of popular longplay recordings.

Labelmate Jane Morgan, who'd already released singles featuring Williams' fluent keyboard work, had yet to score a hit after more than two years with Kapp. "Two Different Worlds," written by New Yorkers Al Frisch and Sid Wayne, became her breakthrough disc in late 1956; it probably didn't hurt that Roger had top billing on the single, giving disc jockeys at least minor motive to give it a try. Williams bounced back into the top 40 with his next efforts, Norman Petty's "Almost Paradise" and Algerian-born songwriter Charles Danvers' "Till" (the title track from Roger's second gold LP) and achieved his second top ten ranking on the singles charts in late 1958 with a remake of "Near You" (Francis Craig and vocalist Bob Lamm's 1947 chart topper), its accompanying album also reaching the top ten. In '59 another gold LP, More Songs of the Fabulous Fifties, was added to his growing list of sales achievements (as he lined the walls of his home with many gold and, eventually, platinum plaques).

His popularity hardly waned as the new decade began, with "Temptation" in 1960 and a year later "Maria," hands-down the most popular instrumental version of the classic Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim song from West Side Story. A 1962 album, Mr. Piano, established a new nickname for the cascading 88-key specialist. In 1964 he paid tribute to his brand of choice with the LP The Solid Gold Steinway. In '65 he undertook a till-then rare non-instrumental outing, teaming with The Harry Simeone Chorale on "Summer Wind" (by German composer Heinz Meier with lyrics by Johnny Mercer); the song became a major hit when covered by Frank Sinatra the following year. Next came "Autumn Leaves - 1965," teaming Williams with a vocal chorus on a remake of his greatest hit; the single reached the top ten of Billboard's Easy Listening chart. Even bigger was his 1966 recording of "(Lara's Theme from) Dr. Zhivago," an "easy" top five charter in '66 (Ray Conniff and the Singers blew out all the stops when their version, "Somewhere of My Love," reached number one on the same chart at about the same time).

Not to be outdone, and taking advantage of a mid-'60s resurgence in pop music spurred on by the "middle of the road" radio stations of the time, Roger Williams scored his biggest hit since 1955 with the title song from the popular film "Born Free," again featuring a vocal chorus, a late-'66 top ten pop hit that also spent six weeks on top of the Easy Listening survey (handily surpassing another cover by U.K. star Matt Monro); Roger's like-titled LP became the latest of his many gold certifications. After this, mainstream top 40 radio bypassed Roger's releases despite renewed interest in pop instrumentals (which included another number one piano recording, "(Love Theme from) Romeo and Juliet" by Henry Mancini in 1969). But on the easy listening stations, soon to be rebranded as adult contemporary, he remained a favorite, with "Sunrise, Sunset" (from Fiddler on the Roof), "Love Me Forever" "More Than a Miracle" and "The Impossible Dream" (from Man of La Mancha) all reaching the EL top ten.

In the 1970s, Roger continued recording while spending more time with his family (two wives...nonconsecutive, of course...and three children). His concerts were S.R.O. affairs as he headlined many times at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Hollywood Bowl in California and just about every concert hall you can name in between. His knack for memorizing thousands of popular melodies led to a series of "by request" concerts. He often performed at the White House, entertaining nine straight U.S. presidents starting with Harry Truman and ending with George H.W. Bush (many have called him "The Pianist to the Presidents"). In 2004, at a celebration of his and Jimmy Carter's 80th birthday, the Steinway company unveiled a Roger Williams Limited Edition Gold Piano, designed in the art deco style of the '20s era.

- Michael Jack Kirby

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