Louis Chauvin

• Name — Louis Chauvin • Born — 13 March 1881 • Birthplace — St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. • Died — 26 March 1908 • Place of death — Chicago, Illinois, U.S. • Genre — Ragtime • Occupation — Pianist • Instrument — Piano

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Mexican Spanish-Indian father and an African American mother, he was widely considered the finest pianist in the St. Louis area at the turn of the century. He was part of the ragtime community that met at Tom Turpin's Rosebud bar with Joe Jordan and others. Sam Patterson, a musician and life-long friend of Chauvin, later described him as, About five feet five and never over 145 pounds. He looked delicate with his fine features and his long, tapering fingers, but he was wild and strong. He never gambled, but he stayed up, drank, and made lots of love. He loved women, but he treated them like dirt. He always had two or three. He loved whisky, too, but he only seemed to be living when he was at the piano. It's authentic, I guess, that he smoked opium at the last.

Chauvin died in Chicago at the age of 27; he has been cited as an early member of the "27 Club". His death certificate lists the causes of death as "multiple sclerosis, probably syphilitic" and starvation due to coma. However, a modern assessment would probably conclude he had neurosyphilitic sclerosis unrelated to multiple sclerosis. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. He was portrayed by Clifton Davis in the 1977 film Scott Joplin.

Louis Chauvin is recorded as a citizen of United States. Recorded with the occupation composer. Classed in the genre ragtime.