Winifred Atwell honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque
- Vera B
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
As part of Black History Month UK, English Heritage has unveiled a blue plaque honouring Winifred Atwell, the pioneering Trinidadian pianist, television star, and entrepreneur who became the first Black artist to top the UK pop charts.
On the 1st October, marking the start of Black History Month UK, internationally renowned pianist, television personality, and trailblazing entrepreneur Winifred Atwell was honoured with an English Heritage blue plaque.
The plaque celebrates her former home at 18 Bourdon Street, Mayfair, where Atwell lived during the height of her extraordinary career in the 1950s and 60s with her husband and manager, Lew Levisohn. It was here she kept her two most famous instruments: her Steinway concert grand and her beloved "other piano", a deliberately out-of-tune upright that became her signature in countless honky-tonk performances.
Atwell was one of the most successful musicians in post-war Britain and a true pioneer of her time. In 1954, she became the first Black artist to achieve a UK number one single with her chart-topping medley Let’s Have Another Party.
Her electrifying honky-tonk style, fusing ragtime and boogie-woogie with classical virtuosity, made her a household name. Between 1952 and 1960, she spent an incredible 117 weeks in the British pop charts, appeared on over 100 BBC radio programmes, and fronted her own television shows on both ITV and the BBC.
Her energetic rendition of The Black and White Rag later became the theme tune to BBC’s Pot Black, cementing her place in the nation’s musical history.
Pianist, bandleader and broadcaster Jools Holland paid tribute, saying:
“Winifred Atwell is very important in British cultural and musical life. She is one of the first women, and certainly one of the first women of Afro-Caribbean heritage, to become a mainstream figure in 1950s British entertainment. She was also a piano inspiration to both Sir Elton John, myself, and many others. It is therefore a tremendous personal honour for me to help celebrate her legacy with a blue plaque.”
Musician, broadcaster and English Heritage Blue Plaques panel member YolanDa Brown added:
“Winifred Atwell was a dazzling performer and a true trailblazer. Her virtuosity, charisma and entrepreneurial spirit helped her break racial and musical barriers in mid-century Britain. She opened doors for Black artists, and her success in both classical and popular music challenged assumptions about genre and identity. This plaque in Mayfair, close to her recording studios, television sets and business premises, is a tribute to a woman who deserves far greater recognition in the story of British music.”
Beyond her musical career, Atwell was a forward-thinking entrepreneur. Drawing on her early training as a pharmacist, she opened one of the UK’s first beauty salons for Black women and launched her own line of beauty products.
Her multifaceted success and public profile made her an inspirational figure, particularly within the Caribbean diaspora in Britain and Australia, where she later settled and lived until her passing in 1983.
Winifred Atwell’s life and music continue to resonate, a lasting legacy of artistry, entrepreneurship and cultural impact that helped reshape the sound and face of post-war Britain.
The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl and members of the public.
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