That's due to street musician Billy Waters
- London, 21 March 1823. Billy Waters, street singer, violinist, dancer and actor, died in the charity house of the St Giles neighborhood at the age of 44-45.
What we know about Billy Waters' childhood is that he grew up near the port of New York, where he trained as a sailor, as well as playing the violin and dancing. Of African origin, it is believed that he was born a slave, but it is not a confirmed fact.
In 1811 he joined the British Navy, aboard the Nemur Revival, led by Charles Austen, brother of writer Jane Austen. Soon he managed to climb aboard the boat Ganymede, but when he was working in the sokateria and fabrics, he fell and broke the two legs; the left had to be amputated below the knee.
He lived in the poor London neighborhood of St Giles. But the army's low pension, insufficient to keep his wife Polly and her two children, started asking for money in exchange for street performances. He worked outside the Adelphi Theatre, the old military uniform, the pen hat on his head and the violin on his hands.
Waters had to sell the violin and tried to sell the wooden leg, but no one offered him coins in exchange for an outdated piece of wood. Died a year later
Waters’ biographies mention that he was known by playwright William Joseph Moncrieff, who introduced Waters’s character into the play Tom and Jerry. For by then he was already known on the outskirts of the theatres, among the citizens, and the neighbors of St Giles named him “king of the vagabunds”. The successful play caused him a lot of damage. On the one hand, Moncrieff's portrait was racist, offensive and cruel, alien to reality. On the other hand, Waters’ street performance was illegal and police persecution increased thereafter, even a judge threatened jail if he did not stop. Waters had to sell the violin and tried to sell the wooden leg, but no one offered him coins in exchange for an outdated piece of wood. He died a year later.
Only a few descriptions of Waters’s work have come to us, as well as loose fragments of his songs and stories, which have sometimes come a long way. In 1959, collectors Mississippi ppin, Shirley Collins and Alan Lomax recorded elder Sid Hemphill singing a blues song accompanied by banjo: “Polly will you marry me? Polly don’t you cry, Polly comes to bed with me and get a little boy…”. It was a song offered by Waters to his wife.
Two hundred years after his death, his official recognition. In his old London neighborhood he just put a plaque on his honor. And it's also getting expert recognition. In the words of Canadian researcher Tony Montague, Billy Waters is “a pioneer of blues, breakdance, rock and rap.”
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