This Day In Music History: Roger Williams and Autumn Leaves

Having posted about the song “Rise” in the last two weeks it is only appropriate that we post that on this day what Randy Badazz correctly described as a rarity when he said that it was rare for an instrumental to top the pop charts. The first instrumental hit to top the pop charts was “Autumn Leaves” by Roger Williams on October 29, 1955. It was #1 for 4 weeks that year. It was originally a French melody written by Joseph Kosma and Jacques Prevert. It was a hit in France by Juliette Greco. Capitol records asked Johnny Mercer to write English lyrics to it. It was recorded by many popular artists like Bing Crosby and Jo Stafford. No one ever made it a hit till Roger Williams released his piano version.
Mr. Williams was considered a prodigy when he learned to play the piano at the age of three. By the time he was four he had written his first song. By the time he was eight he was fluent in even more instruments. He was very active in music when he was in high school in Des Moines, Iowa. His Father was a Lutheran minister. His Dad taught him how to do something that most would consider dangerous for any musician. He taught him how to box. Roger served in the Navy during World War II and won a boxing title while serving for his country. After the war he went to college and got his Masters in music. He enrolled in the famous Juilliard School when he moved to New York and later won on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.” He was playing piano at the Madison Hotel lunge when Dave Knapp of Knapp Records heard him and signed him to a recording contract. However, Knapp insisted that he change his name. You see Roger’s name he was given at his birth was Lou Weertz. Knapp didn’t think that name would stand up anywhere so he changed his name to Roger Williams. In later years Roger was an early supporter of stereo recordings and also invented an electronic piano that would play songs itself and simulate speech. It was an early version of the synthesizer. In the 1960’s Roger was named as DJ’s favorite instrumentalist. He also recorded another hit song when he released an instrumental version of “Born Free” based on the theme of the movie. It peaked at #7 in 1966.
In 1956, after the song Autumn Leaves was a hit, a movie called Autumn Leaves was released. It starred Joan Crawford and the title song was sung by Nat “King” Cole.