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| Roger Williams |
Interviewed by Billboard magazine on January 18, 1964, Williams remarked: "I was happy to read recently that musical interest in America is at an all-time high... people like everything from highbrow to hootenanny... A great deal has been written about classical piano and almost as much about jazz piano... but little, if anything could I find about the history of pop piano. I began to think about the wonderful contribution our artists and composers have made to popular piano music in our country... and so I thought it might be fun to re-create here the styles of these pop artists and composers and at the same time offer them my special tribute."
Billboard magazine ranks him as the top selling piano recording artist in history with 18 gold and platinum albums to his credit. Williams was known as the "Pianist to the Presidents" having played for nine administrations beginning with Harry S. Truman. His last White House performance was in November 2008 for a luncheon hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.
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.
