Born in Cape Charles, Virginia, Sturgis started his music studies on piano at age five.
[1] Others he played with in New York included Jacques Butler (1935), Blanche Calloway (1936), Tommy Stevenson (1936–1937), and Eddie Mallory (1937–1938).
[2] He then worked as a sideman in the 1940s with, among others, Benny Carter, Don Byas, Stuff Smith, and Louis Armstrong.
[3] He was a frequent accompanist of female singers such as Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey, and in Earl Hines' orchestra with Sarah Vaughan.
He recorded his last dates as a leader in 1976 but continued to play into the 1980s with Spanky Davis, eventually retiring around the end of the decade.