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With a nickname like "88 Keys," you know, Wilfred Wilson, Jr. could genuinely play the piano. The Charlottesville man rose to fame in the 1950s when he tickled the ivories playing jazz tunes, but that wasn't where his love for music began. According to his obituary, Wilson's mother, a music teacher, started teaching him to play instruments at age seven. He started performing professionally for soldiers during World War II and continued to play upon his return to Charlottesville. Working for 37 years in the University of Virginia (UVA) Hospital's radiology department, Wilson often wowed his singing and musical abilities to his coworkers and patients. Wilson often performed locally, like the featured photograph shows. In the picture, he and his bandmates play at the UVA Hospital staff's Christmas party in 1953. The caption with the photo notes that the event was a "racially integrated" staff party despite having segregated patient wards. In a Tribune article from January 1954, a quote...
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