Bert Williams

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bert Williams was born in 1874 in Nassau in the Bahamas and from the age of two or three grew up in the United States. In the late 1890s he travelled with his partner George Walker through the theatre world of minstrel shows and vaudeville. Their act consisted of songs, dance and comic dialogues, in which they reversed their roles: Walker became the self-assured dandy, Williams the seemingly sluggish simpleton. They made the cakewalk popular and, as was usual at the time, performed in blackface, although they also subtly undermined the stereotype. Williams was a master of body language and facial expression.

Music and breakthrough

Nobody from 1906 became his trademark. He became the best-selling Black recording artist before 1920 and the first Black artist to have a leading role on Broadway. In 1918 the New York Dramatic Mirror called him one of the great comedians of the world. He also appeared in a film from 1914. The comedian W.C. Fields, who performed with him, called him the funniest and at the same time the saddest man he knew.

Influence

In popular music history Williams is important because he shows how a Black artist in a racist age nevertheless reached a mass audience. He became a key figure in the development of the African American entertainment world and pushed many boundaries over three decades. He died in 1922.

Listening

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  Nobody · Bert Williams, 1906
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