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Pinetop Smith (Clarence Smith) was born on 11 June, 1904 in Troy, Alabama, U.S., is an American boogie-woogie pianist. Discover Pinetop Smith's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 25 years old?

Popular As Clarence Smith
Occupation Musician · comedian
Age 25 years old
Zodiac Sign Gemini
Born 11 June 1904
Birthday 11 June
Birthplace Troy, Alabama, U.S.
Date of death 1929
Died Place Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 11 June. He is a member of famous artist with the age 25 years old group.

Pinetop Smith Height, Weight & Measurements

At 25 years old, Pinetop Smith height not available right now. We will update Pinetop Smith's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
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Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Family
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Pinetop Smith Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Pinetop Smith worth at the age of 25 years old? Pinetop Smith’s income source is mostly from being a successful artist. He is from United States. We have estimated Pinetop Smith's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income artist

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Timeline

1904

Clarence "Pinetop" Smith (June 11, 1904 – March 15, 1929), was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist.

His hit tune "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" featured rhythmic "breaks" that were an essential ingredient of ragtime music, but also a fundamental foreshadowing of rock and roll.

The song was also the first known use of the term "boogie woogie" on a record, and cemented that term as the moniker for the genre.

Smith was born to an African American family in Troy, Alabama and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.

He received his nickname as a child from his liking for climbing trees.

1920

In 1920 he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked as an entertainer before touring on the Theatre Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuit, performing as a singer and comedian as well as a pianist.

For a time, he worked as accompanist for blues singer Ma Rainey and Butterbeans and Susie.

In the mid-1920s, he was recommended by Cow Cow Davenport to J. Mayo Williams at Vocalion Records, and in 1928 he moved, with his wife and young son, to Chicago, Illinois to record.

For a time he, Albert Ammons, and Meade Lux Lewis lived in the same rooming house.

1928

On December 29, 1928, he recorded his influential "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie", one of the first "boogie woogie" style recordings to make a hit, and which cemented the name for the style.

It was also the first recording to have the phrase 'boogie woogie' in the song's title.

Smith talks over the recording, telling how to dance to the number.

He said he originated the number at a house-rent party in St. Louis, Missouri.

Smith was the first ever to direct "the girl with the red dress on" to "not move a peg" until told to "shake that thing" and "mess around".

Similar lyrics are heard in many later songs, including "Mess Around" and "What'd I Say" by Ray Charles.

1929

Smith was scheduled to make another recording session for Vocalion in 1929, but died from a gunshot wound in a dance-hall fight in Chicago the day before the session.

Sources differ as to whether he was the intended recipient of the bullet.

1938

Smith was acknowledged by other boogie-woogie pianists such as Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson as a key influence, and he gained posthumous fame when "Boogie Woogie" was arranged for big band and recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra in 1938.

Although not immediately successful, "Boogie Woogie" was so popular during and after World War II that it became Dorsey's best-selling record, with over five million copies sold.

1939

"I saw Pinetop spit blood" was a headline in DownBeat magazine in 1939.

No photographs of Smith are known to exist.

1946

Bing Crosby (recorded January 21, 1946 with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra) and Count Basie also issued their versions of the song.

1950

From the 1950s, Joe Willie Perkins became universally known as "Pinetop Perkins" for his recording of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".

Perkins later became Muddy Waters's pianist.

1965

Claes Oldenburg, the pop artist, proposed a Pinetop Smith Monument in his book Proposals for Monuments and Buildings 1965–69.

Oldenburg described the monument as "a wire extending the length of North Avenue, west from Clark Street, along which at intervals runs an electric impulse colored blue so that there's one blue line as far as the eye can see. Pinetop Smith invented boogie woogie blues at the corner of North and Larrabee, where he finally was murdered: the electric wire is 'blue' and dangerous."

1975

In 1975, the Bob Thiele Orchestra recorded a modern jazz album called I Saw Pinetop Spit Blood, which included a treatment of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" as well as the title song.

1991

Smith was a posthumous 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

2003

Gene Taylor recorded a version of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" on his eponymous 2003 album.

2004

When he was in his nineties, he recorded a song on his 2004 album Ladies' Man, which played on the by-then common misconception that he had written "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".

Ray Charles adapted "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" for his song "Mess Around", for which the authorship was credited to "A. Nugetre", Ahmet Ertegun.