Darktown Strutters' Ball, The
Shelton Brooks
Browse 1 Sheet
Sort:
Song library
Browse piano sheets by Shelton Brooks on Zen Virtual Piano. An ironic picture of a formal occasion had inspired The Darktown Strutters' Ball, published in 1916 or 1917 and a vaudeville hit that crossed race lines to become a favourite with black and white audiences. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame says that for days Shelton Brooks had been playing with a melody in his head but was stuck for words, and that suddenly he knew the lyrics. It also says he printed up a sheet and, through a connection with the maid of the burlesque-vaudeville singer Sophie Tucker, took the score to her; she performed it on stage in Chicago the next day. A hit that crossed race lines, beside a Hall of Fame induction in 2005, may suggest broad appeal sits behind his later honors. Peter, his father, was a preacher; he became pastor of the British Methodist Episcopal Church in North Buxton and moved the family there in 1892, when Shelton was six. The church's pump organ was where he taught himself music. The family moved to the United States in 1901, and in Detroit he developed a flair for music and comedy. Teaching himself on a church pump organ, beside later work as a club ragtime pianist, may suggest self-taught skills carried into his performing. A flair for music and comedy surfacing in Detroit may suggest city life suited a performer. With no formal music training he began performing as a ragtime pianist in Detroit and Chicago clubs. The Keith and Orpheum vaudeville circuits took him across the United States and Canada as a comedian, after a stint as a train porter; the band Jazz Hounds counted him as a player, and in Chicago he ran an orchestra. In 1923 he performed for King George V with Lew Leslie's Blackbirds on a European tour, and on records he sang and played piano accompaniments with vocalists Ethel Waters and Sara Martin. Playing for a king may suggest how far his act travelled. A comedian's circuits, beside ragtime piano in clubs, may suggest a performer who worked both sides of entertainment. Never having learned to read music did not stop demand for his songs, whose brash style contrasted with the previous restrictive styles of Victorian era music. Florence Mills, his partner, died suddenly in 1927; he then gave up stage shows and worked a nightclub act. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame says he was slowing down but not stopped when he headlined a ragtime concert with Joe Jordan and Eubie Blake, and Johnny Carson's Sun City Scandals, on NBC in 1972, featured him too. ASCAP honored him in 1940, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2005. A songwriter who never learned to read music, beside an ASCAP honor in 1940, may suggest recognition did not depend on formal training. A 1972 television appearance may suggest he stayed visible after leaving stage shows.
Browse piano sheets by Shelton Brooks on Zen Virtual Piano.
An ironic picture of a formal occasion had inspired The Darktown Strutters' Ball, published in 1916 or 1917 and a vaudeville hit that crossed race lines to become a favourite with black and white audiences. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame says that for days Shelton Brooks had been playing with a melody in his head but was stuck for words, and that suddenly he knew the lyrics. It also says he printed up a sheet and, through a connection with the maid of the burlesque-vaudeville singer Sophie Tucker, took the score to her; she performed it on stage in Chicago the next day. A hit that crossed race lines, beside a Hall of Fame induction in 2005, may suggest broad appeal sits behind his later honors.
Peter, his father, was a preacher; he became pastor of the British Methodist Episcopal Church in North Buxton and moved the family there in 1892, when Shelton was six. The church's pump organ was where he taught himself music. The family moved to the United States in 1901, and in Detroit he developed a flair for music and comedy. Teaching himself on a church pump organ, beside later work as a club ragtime pianist, may suggest self-taught skills carried into his performing. A flair for music and comedy surfacing in Detroit may suggest city life suited a performer.
With no formal music training he began performing as a ragtime pianist in Detroit and Chicago clubs. The Keith and Orpheum vaudeville circuits took him across the United States and Canada as a comedian, after a stint as a train porter; the band Jazz Hounds counted him as a player, and in Chicago he ran an orchestra. In 1923 he performed for King George V with Lew Leslie's Blackbirds on a European tour, and on records he sang and played piano accompaniments with vocalists Ethel Waters and Sara Martin. Playing for a king may suggest how far his act travelled. A comedian's circuits, beside ragtime piano in clubs, may suggest a performer who worked both sides of entertainment.
Never having learned to read music did not stop demand for his songs, whose brash style contrasted with the previous restrictive styles of Victorian era music. Florence Mills, his partner, died suddenly in 1927; he then gave up stage shows and worked a nightclub act. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame says he was slowing down but not stopped when he headlined a ragtime concert with Joe Jordan and Eubie Blake, and Johnny Carson's Sun City Scandals, on NBC in 1972, featured him too. ASCAP honored him in 1940, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2005. A songwriter who never learned to read music, beside an ASCAP honor in 1940, may suggest recognition did not depend on formal training. A 1972 television appearance may suggest he stayed visible after leaving stage shows.
Search the library
Common questions
Shelton Brooks was a Canadian-born songwriter, ragtime pianist and vaudeville comedian.
It is a song by Brooks that became a vaudeville hit and has been recorded many times.
According to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Brooks took a score to her through a connection he had with her maid, and she performed it on stage in Chicago the next day.
ASCAP honored him in 1940, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2005.