TURPIN, THOMAS MILLION

TURPIN, THOMAS MILLION (TOM). Ragtime pianist/Composer (1873 in Savannah, Georgia; 13 August 1922 in St. Louis, Missouri). His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, during the 1880s. A self-taught pianist, he began his professional career as a pianist in a St. Louis brothel, Babe Connor's Castle Club, where such songs as Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ra and A hot time in the old town tonight originated. In 1900 he opened his own saloon, the Rosebud Cafe, which became a gathering place for rag...