Born in Troy, Alabama in 1904 and raised in nearby Birmingham, the young Clarence Smith taught himself piano to provide the music for dancing at parties in the days before poor people had records or radio. Clarence Smith (June 11, 1904 – March 15, 1929), better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith, was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist. He worked for some time as an entertainer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then toured on the T. O. Pinetop Smith was 25 years old when he was killed. B. One of the godfathers of Rock & Roll, Pine Top Smith helped name the Boogie Woogie genre with his smash hit, Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie. Smith was born in Troy, Alabama and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith (11 June 1904 - 15 March 1929) was an influential American boogie-woogie style jazz pianist. Born: January 11, 1904, Orion, Alabama. It was at this session that he recorded his version of “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” a song originally written and recorded by pianist Clarence “Pinetop” Smith – the influential blues pianist who had died from a … He was raised in nearby Troy and first performed in public in Birmingham about the age of fifteen. Born in 1904 in Troy, Alabama, Clarence ‘Pinetop’ Smith was the piano player who is most associated with the boogie woogie style of piano playing, his fame resting primarily on his recording of “Pine Top's Boogie Woogie” in 1928. Clarence "Pine Top" Smith. The pair completed a session for Sam Phillips’ famous Sun Records in 1953. His hit tune "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" featured rhythmic "breaks" that were an essential ingredient of ragtime music, but also a fundamental foreshadowing of rock & roll. He spent his youth in Birmingham, Alabama, and he was largely self-taught on the piano. Along with Meade “Lux” Lewis and Blind HOME. Artist information Sort name: Smith, Clarence 'Pine Top' Type: Person Gender: Male Born: 1904-06-11 Born in: Troy, Alabama, United States Died: 1929-03-15 (aged 24) Died in: Chicago, Illinois, United States Area: United States CLARENCE Pinetop SMITH . Died 15 March 1929, Chicago, Illinois: Considered to be the originator of the boogie -woogie style of piano playing, Clarence "Pine Top" Smith was a vaudeville performer. A. Vaudeville circuit.