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• In his fifty year career, Duke Ellington played over 20,000 performances in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East as well as Asia,

• Duke Ellington composed more than 2000 pieces of music,

• Duke Ellington received 13 Grammy Awards,

• Duke Ellington received the Pulitzer Prize,

• President Lyndon Johnson presented Duke Ellington with the Presidents Gold Medal in 1966,

• Was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1973,

• Has a United States Commemorative stamp with his image on it issued in 1986,

• Received Honorary Doctorates from Howard and Yale Universities,

• His real name was Edward Kennedy Ellington, but he was named Duke because of his refined manners and bearing, and the name was givin to him by a adorring classmate,

• As a child, Duke hated his piano lessons so later he quit. But when he became a teenager, and took up piano again because he wanted to impress a girl, back then people who played instruments were "cool" .

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15y ago

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