Collaborator/co-composer with jazz legend Duke Ellington from
1940-1967.
Wrote the Ellington Orchestra theme song "Take the 'A' Train."
Composed the masterpiece entitled "Lush Life" when he was only sixteen
years old.
Collaborated on over twelve Jazz Suites with Duke Ellington and individually
composed and co-composed over one hundred songs for Duke Ellington's
Orchestra.
Was fluent in French.
Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1981.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.
In 2015, Strayhorn was inducted into the Legacy Walk.
The former Regent Theatre in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood was renamed the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in honor of Strayhorn and fellow Pittsburgher Gene Kelly in 2000. It is a community-based performing arts theater.
Billy Strayhorn was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades.