HONORING MUSIC LEGENDS
ALLEDA WARD WELLS AND KENNETH BROWN BILLUPS
FEATURING FORMER STUDENTS AND THE LEGEND SINGERS SUMNER HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH

HAPPY HOUR FROM 5 PM TO 6:30 PM IN THE GRAND HALL MUSIC CELEBRATION FROM 6:30 PM – 8 PM IN THE AUDITORIUM

Mrs. Wells taught hundreds of young people how to play classical music in her home on Goode Ave in the Ville neighborhood in St. Louis from approximately 1945-1995, over 50 years. 

She had outstanding talent and was trained by the best!

Her mother, Mrs.Ward, saw to it that she had the best and therefore she GAVE the best.

On December 1, 2022, she was honored by her former students at the Missouri History Museum along with another Ville legend, Mr. Kenneth Brown Billups. Between the two of them, there was no lack of musical excellence in the African American neighborhood, the VILLE.

Mrs. Wells was well known for her bi-annual 8 Piano Festivals where as many as 16 people were playing such beautiful renditions of Ferrante and Tiecher’s Tonight and Exodus among many other beautiful melodies. Sleigh Ride was a favorite and must have composers such as a Bach two-part invention, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Mozart were annual requirements for students in the National Piano Guild Competition.

I (Lynne) do not neglect to put my time with her on my professional resumes.  Asked once if I really needed it, I said emphatically,”Yes!”  Never would I diminish the importance of the privilege to have been one of her students or would she be diminished by being omitted.  The Alleda Ward Wells Studio was the Juilliard in the Ville!!!!

She was a woman of faith, beauty, confidence, excellence and love.  We all loved her.  She gave her best and we gave ours back to her!