William Thomas Strayhorn was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades.
20 Facts About Billy Strayhorn
2.
Billy Strayhorn spent many months of his childhood at his grandparents' house in Hillsborough.
3.
Billy Strayhorn became interested in music while living with her, playing hymns on her piano, and playing records on her Victrola record player.
4.
Billy Strayhorn worked odd jobs to earn enough money to buy his first piano, and took lessons from Charlotte Enty Catlin.
5.
Billy Strayhorn attended Westinghouse High School, later attended by Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal.
6.
Billy Strayhorn played in the school band, and studied under Carl McVicker, who had instructed jazz pianists Erroll Garner and Mary Lou Williams.
7.
Billy Strayhorn was then introduced to the music of pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson at age 19.
8.
Billy Strayhorn first explained, and then showed the band leader how he would have arranged one of Duke's own pieces.
9.
Billy Strayhorn worked for Ellington for the next quarter century as an arranger, composer, occasional pianist and collaborator until his early death from cancer.
10.
Billy Strayhorn's relationship with Ellington was always difficult to pin down: Billy Strayhorn was a gifted composer and arranger who seemed to flourish in Duke's shadow.
11.
Billy Strayhorn composed the band's best known theme, "Take the 'A' Train", and a number of other pieces that became part of the band's repertoire.
12.
Billy Strayhorn arranged many of Ellington's band-within-band recordings and provided harmonic clarity, taste, and polish to Duke's compositions.
13.
Billy Strayhorn often sat in on the piano with the Ellington Orchestra, both live and in the studio.
14.
Billy Strayhorn had a major influence on the career of Lena Horne, who wanted to marry Strayhorn and considered him to have been the love of her life.
15.
Billy Strayhorn used his classical background to improve Horne's singing technique.
16.
Billy Strayhorn released a few solo albums and revues for the Copasetics and took on theater productions with his friend Luther Henderson.
17.
In 1964, Billy Strayhorn was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, the disease that took his life in 1967.
18.
Billy Strayhorn finally succumbed in the early morning on May 31,1967, in the company of his partner, Bill Grove, not in Lena Horne's arms as has often been falsely reported.
19.
Billy Strayhorn's ashes were scattered in the Hudson River by a gathering of his closest friends.
20.
In North Carolina, a state historical marker honoring Billy Strayhorn is located in downtown Hillsborough, near his "boyhood home".