Aaron and his twin brother, Marion "Lindberg" Sparks, were born in Corona, Lee County, Mississippi, to Sullie Gant and Ruth McWhorter.
He and his twin brother formed a group, with Aaron playing the piano in a boogie-woogie style and Marion singing.
The boys had a sister, Jimmie Lee, who never recorded songs but, according to Henry Townsend, had a wonderful singing voice.
Townsend recalled in his memoir that Pinetop played, like all other St. Louis musicians, in the "speakeasy type places", such as Nettie's on Delmar Boulevard.
A keyboard adorned the lower casing of the stone, with his name, dates of birth and death, and the epitaph "Every Day I Have the Blues".