CHUCK GREEN
Name: Charles Green
Born: November 6, 1919
Died: March 7, 1997
Green was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia. He would stick bottle caps on his bare
feet as a child and tap dance on the sidewalk for money. He won third place in a
dance contest in 1925 in which Noble Sissle was the bandleader. Soon Green would
be touring the South tap dancing.
When he was nine he was brought to New York by a talent scout to study tap
dancing. A famous talent agent Nat Nazzaro, signed Green up as a client when he
was just twelve years old. He and his childhood friend James Walker teamed up
and called themselves "Shorty and Slim" Walker was a talented comic dancer and
would be "Slim" to Green's "Shorty".
He appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 6, 1963 along with Honi Coles.
Then, in 1964, Green faced tap dancer Groundhog in a tap challenge at the
Village Vanguard. In 1969 Green appeared with members of Harlem’s Hoofer’s Club
for a series of “Tap Happenings” that were produced in New York City by Letitia
Jay. Through seventies and eighties, Green performed with the Copasetics. Honi
Coles would introduce him as, “Chuck Green, the greatest tap dancer in the world.
Name: Charles Green
Born: November 6, 1919
Died: March 7, 1997
Green was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia. He would stick bottle caps on his bare
feet as a child and tap dance on the sidewalk for money. He won third place in a
dance contest in 1925 in which Noble Sissle was the bandleader. Soon Green would
be touring the South tap dancing.
When he was nine he was brought to New York by a talent scout to study tap
dancing. A famous talent agent Nat Nazzaro, signed Green up as a client when he
was just twelve years old. He and his childhood friend James Walker teamed up
and called themselves "Shorty and Slim" Walker was a talented comic dancer and
would be "Slim" to Green's "Shorty".
He appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 6, 1963 along with Honi Coles.
Then, in 1964, Green faced tap dancer Groundhog in a tap challenge at the
Village Vanguard. In 1969 Green appeared with members of Harlem’s Hoofer’s Club
for a series of “Tap Happenings” that were produced in New York City by Letitia
Jay. Through seventies and eighties, Green performed with the Copasetics. Honi
Coles would introduce him as, “Chuck Green, the greatest tap dancer in the world.