Photo: Publicity still-CBS-TV. The photo can be dated by the years the Amos 'n' Andy television show was in production. Comparing the photo with File:Spencer Williams Alvin Childress Amos n Andy 1952.JPG , another publicity photo from the show, it can be seen that Williams is dressed as the "Andy" character. Williams apparently supplied the Carmel Theatre with the photo when he was signed to appear in the musical Simply Heavenly for them in 1958. Fellow cast member Ernestine Wade wrote about the actors and actresses being supplied with photos in a 1981 letter: Page 1 Page 2 The notes on the back of the image are: "Portrait of actor Spencer Williams, signed with "Thoughtfully yours, Spencer Williams, Jr., Andy." Photograph caption reads, "The face that has been peering at you from your TV screen will peer at you in person beginning Friday (14). It belongs to Spencer Williams, the slow, lumbering, beloved character known as Andy Brown in the Amos n' Andy TV series. Andy is one of the many notable artists in the musical comedy, 'Simply Heavenly', which opens Friday at 8:30 PM on the stage of the Carmel Theatre, Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Boulevards, Los Angeles. This is the successful musical extravaganza with an all-Negro cast that stayed from an entire year in New York, the first to play L.A. in many a year." Photograph dated March 26, 1958." The theater then apparently provided the photo to the Herald-Examiner for publicity and promotion of the musical. United States Copyright Office page 2 "Visually Perceptible Copies The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all three elements described below. They should appear together or in close proximity on the copies. 1 The symbol © (letter C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; or the abbreviation “Copr.” 2 The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles. 3 The name of the copyright owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of owner.1 Example © 2007 Jane Doe." Uploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia · Public domain · credits
Timeline
3 events◦ Birth 1† Death 1✦ Award 1
1880s
1960s
1970s
Biography
English biography330 words · 2 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1352697228
Biography
Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Tishomingo Blues", and many others.
Biography
Spencer Williams was born in Vidalia, Louisiana, United States. He was reportedly educated at St. Charles University in New Orleans, although no such school is known to have existed (there was, however, a St. Charles University a few hours west in Grand Couteau).
Williams was performing in Chicago by 1907, and moved to New York City about 1916. After arriving in New York, he co-wrote with Anton Lada of the Louisiana Five several songs. One of them was "Basin Street Blues", which became one of his most popular songs and is still recorded by musicians to this day.
Williams toured Europe with bands from 1925 to 1928; during this time he wrote for Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Williams then returned to New York for a few years. At the end of the 1920s, Williams was tried but then acquitted on a charge of murder. In 1932, he moved to Europe, spending many years in London before moving to Stockholm in 1951. Williams was married to Pat Castleton (a stage name of Agnes Bage). They had two daughters together, named Della and Lindy.
His hit songs include "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "Mahogany Hall Stomp", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Shimmy-Sha-Wobble", "Boodle Am Shake", "Tishomingo Blues", "Fireworks", "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll", "Arkansas Blues", plus the dirty blues standard "Georgia Grind", "Paradise Blues", "When Lights Are Low", and "My Man o' War".
Williams returned to New York in 1957, before his death in Flushing, Queens, on July 14, 1965.
Williams was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 16 | 74.5th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 3 | 73.3th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (0 release groups)
No discography rows stored yet
MusicBrainz enrichment for this artist is still pending. Release groups appear here once it runs.
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Spencer Williams head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 16 | 74.5th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 3 | 73.3th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Songwriters Hall of Fame | lifetime |
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_williams_carmel_theater_1958.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/3fed4b6e-ecbf-432e-93f5-2ae4b49f2a1ddiscography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/3fed4b6e-ecbf-432e-93f5-2ae4b49f2a1dcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1282480genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1282480seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Williamsbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Williams
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Publicity still-CBS-TV. The photo can be dated by the years the Amos 'n' Andy television show was in production. Comparing the photo with File:Spencer Williams Alvin Childress Amos n Andy 1952.JPG , another publicity photo from the show, it can be seen that Williams is dressed as the "Andy" character. Williams apparently supplied the Carmel Theatre with the photo when he was signed to appear in the musical Simply Heavenly for them in 1958. Fellow cast member Ernestine Wade wrote about the actors and actresses being supplied with photos in a 1981 letter: Page 1 Page 2 The notes on the back of the image are: "Portrait of actor Spencer Williams, signed with "Thoughtfully yours, Spencer Williams, Jr., Andy." Photograph caption reads, "The face that has been peering at you from your TV screen will peer at you in person beginning Friday (14). It belongs to Spencer Williams, the slow, lumbering, beloved character known as Andy Brown in the Amos n' Andy TV series. Andy is one of the many notable artists in the musical comedy, 'Simply Heavenly', which opens Friday at 8:30 PM on the stage of the Carmel Theatre, Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Boulevards, Los Angeles. This is the successful musical extravaganza with an all-Negro cast that stayed from an entire year in New York, the first to play L.A. in many a year." Photograph dated March 26, 1958." The theater then apparently provided the photo to the Herald-Examiner for publicity and promotion of the musical. United States Copyright Office page 2 "Visually Perceptible Copies The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all three elements described below. They should appear together or in close proximity on the copies. 1 The symbol © (letter C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; or the abbreviation “Copr.” 2 The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles. 3 The name of the copyright owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of owner.1 Example © 2007 Jane Doe." Uploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q1282480 · MusicBrainz: 3fed4b6e-ecbf-432e-93f5-2ae4b49f2a1d
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