Leonard Reed, Oklahoman,

Tap Dancing Pioneer

Saturday, April 10, 2004 

Leonard Reed, a tap dance pioneer who co-created the famed Shim Sham Shimmy dance step and winner of the lifetime achievement award from the American Music Awards, has died. He was 97. Reed was born in Lightning Creek, near Nowata Okla., on Jan. 7, 1907. He was part black, white and Choctaw. His mother died of pneumonia when he was 2, and he never knew his father. He died Monday of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Covina.

Reed, with partner Willie Bryant, left behind the Shimmy step that began as a flashy finale to their dance act in the late 1920s.

The book "Jazz Dance" by Marshall and Jean Stearns described it as "a one-chorus routine to a 32-bar tune with eight bars each" consisting of the double shuffle, crossover, an up-and-back shuffle and the another move, described as "falling off a log."

The dancer was raised by relatives and other guardians in Kansas City, where he won contests dancing the Charleston and worked summers at carnivals doing the dance.  He dropped out of Cornell University to pursue a dance career. Reed paired up with Bryant in a vaudeville act, "Brains as Well as Feet."

"Dancing has been my only love," he said in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "But I didn't let dancing stop me from doing other things. I had the ability to be multitalented."

He produced shows at the famed Cotton Club in Chicago and, in New York, was master of ceremonies for 20 years at the Apollo Theater. When he wasn't dancing, he was a songwriter, bandleader and comedian. In the 1960s, Reed began producing for record companies and helped launched the career of singer Dinah Washington. He once said his long, active life could be credited to "women, golf and show business…but not necessarily in that order"

In 2000, he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Music Awards. Two years later, he received an honorary doctor of performing arts degree from Oklahoma City University. Reed is survived by his wife, daughter, granddaughter and two great-grandchildren.

Born in Lightning Creek, Oklahoma, near Nowata, on January 7, 1907, a mix of black, white and Choctaw. His mother died of pneumonia when he was 2, and he never knew his father. He was raised by his great-grandmother until he was 11, when he was placed in a foster home in Kansas City, Missouri.

He was soon running with the wrong crowd, and at the age of 13 was threatened with a four-year stretch in reform school for buying alcohol under-age. However, the headmaster of his high school, Hugh Oliver Cook, knew that Leonard was being habitually assaulted by the guardian of the foster home, and offered to adopt him if he were not jailed. [1]

Leonard Reed was born in a tepee at Lightning Creek, Oklahoma, on January 7 1907. His mother, who died when he was two, was half-Choctaw Cherokee Indian and half-black. She had been raped by his father, who was white, and whom he also never knew. He was raised by his great-grandmother until he was 11, when he was placed in a foster home in Kansas City, Missouri. 

He was soon running with the wrong crowd, and at the age of 13 was threatened with a four-year stretch in reform school for buying alcohol under-age. However, the headmaster of his high school knew that Leonard was being habitually assaulted by the guardian of the foster home, and offered to adopt him if he were not jailed. [2]

He also wrote a number of songs that were recorded by various artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Chick Webb, and Lionel Hampton. Several of these songs have been recorded by Mora’s Modern Rhythmists, including his 1935 tune, "A Viper’s Moan," as well as his 1932 hit, "It’s Over Because We’re Through," with Leonard himself singing the vocals. His survivors include his wife of 52 years, Barbara Reed, a daughter, a granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren. [3]
 

[2] http://www.theatredance.com/legends/reed.html August 10. 2009

[3] http://maxwelldemille.com/leonard/index.asp August 10. 2009