Biography

Jazz violinist.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994.

Attended Johnson C. Smith University on a music scholarship.

Noted as front man of a sextet, 'Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys', which performed at New York's Onyx Club on 52nd Street in the early 40's (the group included Jonah Jones and Cozy Cole). Smith subsequently took over as leader of Fats Waller's Orchestra, following Waller's death on a New York-bound train in 1943.

Smith was known as a heavy drinker. In his later years, he spent much time in hospitals, having parts of his liver and stomach removed. A Paris hospital at one time described him as a 'medical museum'.