Autumn Leaves Piano by Anton, Roger Williams version of Autumn Leaves. In 1955, a rather unknown pianist by the name of Louis Jacob Weertz changed his name to Roger Williams and recorded his own arrangement of the somewhat popular "Les Feuilles Mortes," soon to be known as "Autumn Leaves." It became the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard's Popular Music chart, and having sold over two million copies then, it was awarded a Gold Disc. In 2010, Roger Williams was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. At that time, "Autumn Leaves" was the best-selling piano solo record of all time and the only one ever to top the Billboard charts. The following year, one week after his 87th birthday, he died after a long bout with pancreatic cancer. This is the most famous piano arrangement of "Autumn Leaves." Roger Williams, nicknamed "Mr. Piano" by his international fans, created this piano riff that had made him famous worldwide. Roger Williams, or Mr. Piano as he was often known, had a lucrative career that spanned decades. He knew 10,000 songs by heart; he had 21 gold and platinum records. He was also a Steinway Artist and he was extremely proud of it. He was the first (so far) and only artist to receive the Steinway Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was featured at Carnegie Hall for Steinway's 150th Anniversary. Roger Williams is still the only artist to have a series of pianos named after him by Steinway. He toured with his Limited Edition Gold Piano. Reader's Digest puts it this way, 'Roger Williams is undeniably one of the greatest pianists of the Twentieth Century. His illustrious career in music is unparalleled.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(pianist) http://www.mrpianotoday.com/ More on Roger Williams: Roger Williams was one of the world's best-sellingpianists. Less flamboyant than Liberace, he topped the US pop charts with "Autumn Leaves" in 1955 and recorded over 100albums. He was often derided as an Easy Listening pianist but he took his work seriously and always studied the lyric of a song so that he could determine how to play it. He would joke that he had taken elevator music to new heights. Roger Williams was born Louis Jacob Weertz in Omaha, Nebraska in 1924, the only child of Frederick and Dorothea Weertz, but the family soon moved to Des Moines, Iowa. His father was a Lutheran minister and his mother a music teacher. He was a musical child, being able to play several songs on the piano or harmonica by the time he was five. His father had been a boxer and encouraged him to box but after he broke his nose he thought he would stick with music. He could play several instruments by his teens and he conducted his school orchestra. He was in the US navy during the later years of the Second World War and then returned to Des Moines, where he completed a degree in engineering. In 1950, he acquired a master's degree in music from Drake University in Des Moines. He moved to New York and studied at Juilliard, where he was mentored by the jazz pianist Teddy Wilson. He agreed to accompany a singer on the national TV show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in 1952, and when the singer failed to arrive he played a piano solo and won. He won $1,000 on another TV show, Chance Of A Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. In 1954, David Kapp, the founder of Kapp Records, signed Williams but wanted him to move away from jazz. He told him to change his name, choosing Roger Williams, who had been the founder of Rhode Island. He made an album, The Boy Next Door, and then recorded "Autumn Leaves". Joseph Kosma's "Les Feuilles Mortes" was very popular in France in 1950. The supreme lyricist, Johnny Mercer, added English words, so it became "Autumn Leaves". Williams liked the reference to falling leaves drifting by the window and he replicated it on the piano with descending arpeggios. His single sold two million copies and an album of the same name did well. This led to several more hit singles including "Almos...