To all dancers, dance enthusiasts and tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday of Tommy Sutton today 04/07/1919.
A Tap Master and National Treasure. Sutton came to Chicago with his parents, both entertainers, when he was only 5.
While in his teens, he toured the U.S. with such favorites as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole.
In 1959, Sutton opened his own dance studio, Mayfair Academy of Fine Arts, in Chicago, still going strong.
Over the next two decades, he operated the studio and conducted tap dance workshops across the nation.
He wrote a step-by-step three volume instructional book, Tap Along With Tommy for tap dance teachers in 1986. The same year the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters named him teacher of the year. He moved to Decatur, GA, in 1979 and taught at local dance studios and at Spelman College.