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Fats Waller

American jazz pianist and composer (1904–1943)
Person human Q310476
Fats Waller
New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Fisher, Alan, photographer. · Public Domain · Wikimedia
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Summary

Fats Waller was born on May 21, 1904[1], in New York City[2]. He died on December 15, 1943[3], in Kansas City[4]. He worked as a pianist[5], composer[6], singer[7], songwriter[8], and jazz musician[9]. He ranks in the top 0.67% of human entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (7,178 views/month, #6,656 of 1,000,298).[10]

Key Facts

  • Place of birth: Harlem[11]
  • Country of citizenship: United States[12]
  • Native language: English[13]
  • Ethnic group: African Americans[14]
  • Occupation: conductor[15], bandleader[16]
  • Educated at: DeWitt Clinton High School[17]
  • Award received: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award[18]
  • Member of: Fats Waller and his Rhythm[19]
  • Sex or gender: male[20]
  • Genre: jazz[21]
  • Commons category: Fats Waller[22]
  • Archives at: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture[23]
  • Cause of death: pneumonia[24]
  • Family name: Waller[25]
  • Given name: Thomas[26], Wright[27], Fats[28]
  • Pseudonym: Fats Waller[29]
  • Student of: James P. Johnson[30]
  • Manner of death: natural causes[31]
  • Instrument: organ[32], piano[33], voice[34]
  • Described by source: Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians[35]
  • Languages spoken, written or signed: English[36]
  • Nickname: Fats[37]
  • Birth name: Thomas Wright Waller[38]
  • Name in native language: Fats Waller[39]

Why It Matters

Fats Waller has Wikipedia articles in 23 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[40] He is known by 26 alternative names across languages and contexts.[41]

FAQs

Where was Fats Waller born?

Fats Waller was born in New York City[2].

Where did Fats Waller die?

Fats Waller died in Kansas City[4].

What did Fats Waller do for work?

Fats Waller worked as a pianist[5], composer[6], singer[7], songwriter[8], and jazz musician[9].

Where did Fats Waller go to school?

Fats Waller was educated at DeWitt Clinton High School[17].

What awards did Fats Waller receive?

Honors received include Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award[18].

Related Entities

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers New York City United States

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Great Norwegian Encyclopedia. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [4] ↑ . Great Norwegian Encyclopedia. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  4. [20] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [17] ↑ . dewittclintonalumni.com. dewittclintonalumni.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  7. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [5] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  9. [6] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  10. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [9] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  15. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [14] ↑ . Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. wikidata.org.
  18. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [1] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  23. [3] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  24. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [36] ↑ . CONOR.SI. wikidata.org.
  36. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [10] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [40] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [41] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Fats Waller. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/fats-waller
MLA “Fats Waller.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 17 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/fats-waller.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_fats-waller_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Fats Waller}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/fats-waller}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-17}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Fats Waller — https://4ort.xyz/entity/fats-waller (retrieved 2026-10-17)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 3d ago · OKA bot bot · 2026-10-17 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||4 */ source for place of birth, source for place of death, source for date of birth, source for date of death from Store norske leksikon ([[Wik"
  2. 14d ago · Printstream · 2026-10-05 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Sitelink count → 44
    Wikipedia languages → ['als', 'ar', 'arz', 'azb', 'bg', 'ca', 'commons', 'cs', 'da', 'de', 'en', 'eo',
    Place of birth → New York City, Harlem
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/57880|batch #57880]]: Import more precise places of birth, date from dewiki"
  3. 6w ago · MsMorale · 2026-09-01 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Sinemalar person id → 325905
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Sinemalar person id: 325905, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/270112|batch #270112]]"
  4. 8w ago · Mahirtwofivesix · 2026-08-19 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Babelnet id → 00033805n
    Arabic ontology lexical concept id → 151061850
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||4 */ added/modified IDs mapped to WordNet 3.1"
  5. 9w ago · Yirba · 2026-08-11 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14750 → B284-62DA-5649-B304-4B20
    Nsk (viaf) id → 000115114
    Banq authority id → 0000490964
    National library of lithuania id → LNB:J6q;=BX
    + 8 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/46460|batch #46460]]: HAND ID (6)"
  6. 15w ago · Printstream · 2026-07-05 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Gnd id → 118628763, 1161438572
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/39939|batch #39939]]: add missing GNDs"
  7. 18w ago · MariuszRokin · 2026-06-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    George eastman museum people id → 124858
    Svkkl authority id → 0329369-Waller-Fats-19041943
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Svkkl authority id: 0329369-Waller-Fats-19041943, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259599|batch #259599]]"
  8. 21w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-20 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Educated at → DeWitt Clinton High School
    Native language → English
    Languages spoken, written or signed → English
    Genre → jazz
    + 32 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/32083|batch #32083]]: import P21 and P106 from GND (25)"
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