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Stage Name

Birth Name

Henry 'RUBBERLEGS' williams Henry Brady Williams
   

-- Henry got his nickname by doing a dance style called 'Legomania', which made him look as if he had rubber legs which described his style of dance. Started dancing for tips at Lizzie Murphy's Sporting House singing and dancing to the blues when he was just a kid and later as a "Pick" on some Vaudeville Stageshows. At age sixteen he went on the Minstrel road with Bobby Grant's Female Impersonators.

-- Doing anything he could to make a name for himself and show his skills, at age sixteen he would join a traveling Minstrel show called Bobby Grants Female impersonators as a dancer. While touring with this show he would enter local Cakewalk and Charleston dance contests with his own pianist Eddie Heywood Sr. where he became a champion. Henry says that "he was pretty good cakewalker who won most of the time." Later Henry put together his own vaudeville act for the T.O.B.A. circuit.


-- "Rubberlegs" Williams used a variety in his acts. He combined eccentric dancing with High Kicks, Wiggles and Shimmies along with the Camel Walk, The Grind, the Boogie Woogie, The Strut and Truckin' etc. Many Chorus lines of the day would also used the style of Williams. Williams was also a singer who became a Blues Shouter and recorded a few songs with such bands as CLYDE HART'S ALL STARS and Miles Davis and supplied the vocals for Dizzy Gillespie "Hot House" on 1/4/1945 New York recordings.

Birth Place

Birth Date

Spouse

Offspring

Atlanta, Georgia 7/14/1907 - 10/17/1962 n/a n/a
                       
 

Dance Types

Dance Partners

Williams

Music Titles

Cakewalk Eddie Heywood Sr. (Pianist) $ 4 F Blues
Camel Walk, the       Bring It On Home
Charleston       Continental Blues
Eccentric       Deep Sea Blues
Grind, the       Did You Ever Get To Thinking
Legomania       Empty Red Blues
Mooch, the       $ G I Blues
Pasmala, the       Going Back To Washington
Shimmie, the       $ I Ain´t Gonna Marry
Strut, the       I Want Every Bit Of It
Truckin'       Pointless Mama Blues
        $ Susie Bee Blues
        That's The Blues (Continental #6013) Hart
        $ That´s The Stuff You Gotta Watch
        $ What's The Matter Now (Continental #6013) Hart
        Worried Life Blues
        $ CD: Obscure Blues Shouters Vol.2
        Other

Music Titles

        Rubberlegs (Ragged Edges)
        Rubberlegs (Studio 54 Remix)
        Son Of Rubberlegs (Ragged Edges)
 

Night Clubs

Theaters

Stage

/ Shows
Cotton Club n/a Blackbirds of 1933
Lizzie Murphy's Sporting House   Brazilian Nuts, Naomi Thomas's (1926)
        Shuffle Along (1933)
        Social Whirl, the (1906)
        Sunshine Exposition Show (1922)  
        Walk Together Chillun (1936)
             
 

Films

Television

Musicians using Willams as Vocalist
1933 - Smash Your Baggage n/a CLYDE HART'S ALL STARS
            Miles Davis: First Miles (Album)
                 
NOTE:
August 10, 2007
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