Famous Trojan Jimmy Rushing on display at Founders' Day Luncheonjazz singer; pianistJames Andrew Rushing was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on August 26, 1903. He came from a musical family; his father played trumpet, his mother and brother were singers, and his uncle played piano in a gambling house. Rushing played the violin as a child, but switched to piano when a cousin, Wesley Manning, began teaching him to play. He continued his music studies as a teen at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He was known in his younger days as "Little Jimmy," but earned the nickname "Mr. Five by Five" when he grew up--the name was descriptive of his short height and wide girth. The "official pianist" of Wilberforce University dances went on to earn his living as a pianist, and moved to California in the mid-1920s.
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