SPILLER, WILLIAM NEWMEYER

SPILLER, WILLIAM NEWMEYER. Vaudeville entertainer (1877 in Hampton, Virginia; 3 September 1944 in New York, New York). He obtained his musical education at Spiller Academy in Hampton, Virginia, which was founded by his father, and at Hampton Institute. Little is known of his early career. In 1899 he joined Mahara's Minstrels as a singer but later played tenor saxophone and alto horn in the Mahara band, then under the leadership of W. C. Handy . Early in 1903 he moved to...