Charlie Parker, nicknamed “Yardbird” (“Bird” for short), a saxophone player, had an undistinguished early carrier but ended up being one of the creators of bebop jazz in the 1940s.
He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. His father, Charles, a pianist, had influenced and inspired him to go into music.
At public schools, he discovered his own talent for music. He started playing baritone horn in the school band.
At the early age of 15, he began to practice playing saxophone diligently wherein he mastered improvisation and developed new ideas that led to bebop, a form of jazz with fast tempo.
In 1938, Parker together with his first band, toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker had a morphine addiction while in hospital after automobile accident and was also addicted to heroin.
In the following year, he worked as a professional musician in New York who was then featured as a regular performer at a Chicago night club after a year. His New York experience was tough that he was at first forced to wash dishes in order to get by.
His humble beginnings were paid off when he was known and recognized for his musical invention, the bebop.
Parker died on March 12, 1955 from lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack.
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