[1] At the age of seven, his dancing at a church benefit was noticed by a theatrical producer who offered him a scholarship to study ballet.

[2] However, a 1945 article in Dance Magazine credits New York politician Sol Bloom with suggesting the nickname.

[4] Alongside Paul Draper, Tapps was among the first tap dancers to popularize dancing to classical music.

[2] That same year Tapps debuted his routine to Maurice Ravel's Boléro, fusing ballet with tap.

[2] In 1941 Tapps was cast in the musical Pal Joey by Rodgers and Hart as a replacement for Gene Kelly, who was leaving for Hollywood.

After performing his act, the panel informed him that the show's producers had been viewing the telecast and thought that he would be ideal for a role in the remake.

[6] After the Soviet Union sent a ballet troupe to West Africa in 1959, Tapps was sent there by the United States Dance Panel in 1961.

[10] Audience interest in tap dancing had begun to decline by the 1950s,[5] and Tapps had difficulty finding employment.

[2] Tapps appeared alongside singer Maxine Sullivan in a cabaret program for the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival in August 1979.