Winifred Atwell knew the key to her success

Winifred Atwell was born in Trinidad, but her musical ability brought her across the ocean to Brixton and from there she toured the world – and ran a hair salon

Winifred Atwell is also known as “the lady that sang with her fingers”. With a career that spanned five decades, and made her one of the most successful and famous female singers in the 1950s, it’s surprising that most of us do not know who she is, writes Tallulah Taylor.

The black plaque project is campaigning to change this.

Only about two per cent of the official Blue Plaques celebrate historic figures who were black. To address this, the project is putting up specially designed plaques around London to celebrate the lives of some of its most notable black residents.

One of these is Winifred Atwell. Born in Tuna Puna, Trinidad, she started playing piano at the age of four and was playing Chopin recitals at the age of six.

However, she trained as a pharmacist, as her father wished, and joined her family’s pharmacy business.

While training she continued to play and became a popular local performer. She was introduced to different kinds of music while performing at a serviceman’s club in the US Air Force base, going on to write her own ragtime and boogie-woogie pieces.

From 1946 she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where she became the first female pianist to be awarded the highest grade for musicianship.

To support herself, she performed honky-tonk piano in London clubs and theatres. She was famous for her upbeat style and personal, smiling performances. Winifred’s music combined classical music with more popular boogie-woogie and ragtime tunes.

Her $2.50 piano, which she bought in a junk ship and toured with her all around the world, aided her classical-pop fusion. She would play her more classical music on a Steinway and then switch to her “other piano” for the ragtime hits.

Winifred also had her own hairdressers near Brixton railway station, possibly the first black women’s hairdressers in London.

Situated opposite the drinking club The Glass Bucket it had opened in 1956 and was called The Winifred Atwell Salon. It was burnt down during the Brixton riots.

Her fame began on December 2, 1956 when a track by Winifred Atwell became the first ever by a black person to go to No 1 one in the UK singles chart.

She’s still the only female instrumentalist to achieve the coveted top spot selling more than 20 million records.

Pictured top: Winifred having her hair done at her salon in Brixton