WINIFRED ATWELL - AUTOGRAPH SENTIMENT SIGNED - HFSID 159919

WINIFRED ATWELL
White album leaf signed "Sincerely" by Atwell. Comes with a b/w magazine photo of Atwell's head affixed.
Autograph sentiment signed "Sincerely in blue ink/Winifred Atwell". 6¼x4¾, with 2¾x3¼ b/w clipped magazine photo of Atwell's head affixed. Atwell (1914-1983, born in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) was a popular pianist in postwar Britain, who won audiences during the 1950s with her exuberant boogie-woogie and honky-tonk style and dazzling stage presence. Atwell got her start playing at the Servicemen's Club in Piarco, Trinidad, while studying to be a pharmacist; she started playing boogie-woogie when someone bet her that she couldn't. She moved to London in 1946 to study at the Royal Academy of Music and supported herself by playing ragtime in clubs and theatres around London. This is how Atwell got her big break, as an unscheduled replacement at the Casino Theatre. She had four Top 10 singles in the United Kingdom, including the No. 1 disc Poor People of Paris/Piano Tuner's Boogie, but is probably best known for her version of a 1908 George Botsford ragtime song called Black and White Rag. She was also popular in Australia and moved there in the 1970s. Lightly toned. Light transference from other signatures in album, which touch signature. Leaf has been torn neatly from album on left edge, which has binding remnants. Photo is lightly rippled. Otherwise in fine condition.