Herman Chittison was born in Flemingsburg on October 15, 1908, to Charles and Sarah Jane Chittison. As a child, he played hymns at Strawberry Methodist Church. He attended Walden College in Nashville in 1924 and later Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons in Frankfort. He began his musical career with Zach Whyte's Chocolate Beau Brummels in 1928. An accomplished jazz pianist, he recorded on both American and French labels as a soloist and as an accompanist for Ethel Waters and Mildred Bailey. He toured with comedian Stepin Fetchit and trumpeter Louis Armstrong, played "Ernie" in the radio series Casey, Crime Photographer from 1942 to 1951, played several prominent clubs in New York during the 1950s and 1960s, and died in 1967, after which he was buried in Cleveland, Ohio.