Walter Melrose was a music publisher

Music publisher

In the music industry, a music publisher is responsible for ensuring the songwriters and composers receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called a publishing contract, a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing...

 and lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...

 in the 1920s and 1930s.

He was born in Sumner

Sumner

-Surname:The surname Sumner originates in the English-language word that is spelled, in modern English, summoner, denoting a person who serves a summons...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and was the brother of Lester Melrose

Lester Melrose

Lester Melrose was one of the first American producers of blues records.-Career:He was born Lester Franklin Melrose in Sumner, Illinois, United States, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose who owned a small farm...

, with whom he established a music store in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. This became successful after the Tivoli Theatre

Tivoli Theatre

Tivoli Theatre is the name of a number of notable theatres:in Asia*Tivoli Theatre , Indiain Australia*Tivoli Theatre , Australia*Tivoli Theatre , Australiain Europa*Teatro Tívoli, Barcelona, Spain...

 opened in the same street, greatly increasing the amount of passing trade. Melrose branched into music publishing when Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....

 turned up in his store, and hits such as Wolverine Blues

Wolverine Blues

Wolverine Blues is the third album by Entombed, released in 1993 on Earache Records. The album marked a move away from their death metal roots to the more traditional hard rock and metal style they produced from this album onward called death 'n' roll ....

 and King Porter Stomp

King Porter Stomp

"King Porter Stomp" is a swing-era jazz standard by Jelly Roll Morton. The composition is considered to be important in the development of jazz....

 became highly successful for the company. In 1926 he arranged a series of recordings for Victor Records by Morton's Red Hot Peppers

Red Hot Peppers

Red Hot Peppers was a recording jazz band led by Jelly Roll Morton from 1926-1930. It was a seven- or eight-piece band formed in Chicago that recorded for Victor and featured the best New Orleans-style freelance musicians available, including cornetist George Mitchell, trombonist Kid Ory,...

, which have come to be regarded as landmarks of early jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

. He later parted company with Morton acrimoniously, and stopped paying him royalties for his compositions.

Melrose added lyrics to many existing jazz compositions in order to claim a songwriting royalty, although these are rarely performed today due to their amateurish nature.