Thelonious Monk was born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. When he was only four years old, his parents, Barbara and Thelonious, Sr., moved to New York City, where he would spend the next fifty years of his life. Thelonious Monk grew up in New York, began playing the piano when he was about five years old, and had his first touring job as an accompanist for an evangelist. Monk began studying classical piano at the age of eleven but had already shown some aptitude for the instrument. Monk was thirteen when he won the weekly amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre. He won so many times that the management banned him from entering the contest again. One of his inspirations was his neighbor, James P. Johnson, who was a Harlem Stride pianist. At the age of seventeen, Monk dropped out of Stuyvesant High School to pursue a musical career. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay He toured with the Texas Warhorse, an evangelist and faith healer, before putting together a quartet of his own. From 1940 to 1953, Thelonious played in a band at Minton's Playhouse. He worked with Lucky Millinder for some time in 1942 and was briefly with the Cootie Williams Orchestra in 1944. Williams recorded Monk's "Epistrophy" in 1942 and in 1944 was the first to record Round Midnight. But it was when he became Coleman Hawkins' regular pianist that Monk was first noticed. In 1947, Monk married Nellie Smith, his longtime girlfriend. They subsequently had two children, whom they named after his parents, Thelonious and Barbara. In 1952, Monk signed to Prestige Records, which produced hits like "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" and "Bags' Groove." The latter, which he recorded with Miles Davis in 1954, is sometimes considered his greatest piano solo ever. In 1955 he signed with Riverside and producer Orrin Keep News convinced him to record an album of Duke Ellington songs. Monk turned the page with his 1956 album, Brilliant Corners, which is generally considered his first true masterpiece. In 1957, the Thelonious Monk Quartet, which included John Coltrane, began performing regularly at the Five Spot in New York. By 1962, Monk was so popular that he was signed to Columbia Records, a decidedly more mainstream label than Riverside. In 1964, Monk became one of four jazz musicians to grace the cover of Time Magazine. He played with the Giants of Jazz from 1971-1972, but then suddenly retired in 1973. Monk suffered from mental illness and, apart from a few special appearances during the mid-1970s. He lived the rest of his life in seclusion or privateness. He died of a stroke in 1982. It has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry and placed on a United States postage stamp. One of Thelonious' famous quotes was "The piano has no wrong notes!". He would be 100 years old today.