William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873–March 28, 1958) was a African American blues composer and musician, often known as "the Father of the Blues." W. C. Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Though he was one of many musicians who played the style of music that is distinctively American, he is credited with its invention not only because he was formally educated and able to notate his music for publication and hence, posterity, but because o ...

Including:

• W. C. Handy - Early life
• W. C. Handy - Musical and social development
• W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business
• W. C. Handy - Later life
• W. C. Handy - Compositions
• W. C. Handy - Performances honors recognition miscellany
• W. C. Handy - Awards festivals and memorials

Read more here: » W. C. Handy: Encyclopedia - W. C. Handy

He was born in Florence, Alabama to freed slaves, Charles Bernard Handy and Elizabeth Bewer Handy. His father was pastor of a small charge in Guntersville, Alabama, another small town in northeast central Alabama. Handy wrote in his 1941 autobiography "Father of the Blues," that he was born in the log cabin built by his grandfather William Wise Handy, who became a African Methodist Episcopal minister after Emancipation. Handy was a deeply religious man, whose influences in his musical style were found in the church music he sang and played as a youth, and in the sounds of ...

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W. C. Handy, W. C. Handy - Early life, W. C. Handy - Musical and social development, W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business, W. C. Handy - Later life, W. C. Handy - Compositions, W. C. Handy - Performances honors recognition miscellany, W. C. Handy - Awards festivals and memorials

Read more here: » W. C. Handy: Encyclopedia II - W. C. Handy - Early life

In 1909 he and his band moved to Memphis, Tennessee and established their presence on Beale Street. At that time, American society and culture was distinctively segregated and Handy's observations of Whites responses to native Black music in conjunction with his own observations of his habits, attitudes and music of his ethnicity served as the foundation for what was later to become the style of music popularized as "the Blues". The genesis of his "Memphis Blues" was as a campaign tune originally entitled as "Mr. Crump" which he had written for Edward Crump, a Memphis, Tennessee mayoral candidate in ...

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W. C. Handy, W. C. Handy - Early life, W. C. Handy - Musical and social development, W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business, W. C. Handy - Later life, W. C. Handy - Compositions, W. C. Handy - Performances honors recognition miscellany, W. C. Handy - Awards festivals and memorials

Read more here: » W. C. Handy: Encyclopedia II - W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business

His musical endeavors were varied, and he sang first tenor in a minstrel show, moved from Alabama and worked as a band director, choral director, cornetist and trumpeter. At age 23, he was band master of Mahara's Colored Minstrels. As a young man, he was playing cornet in the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and in 1902 he travelled throughout Mississippi listening to various musical styles played by ordinary Negroes. The instruments most often used in many of those songs were the guitar, banjo and to a much lesser extent, the piano. His remarkable memory served him well, and he was ab ...

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W. C. Handy, W. C. Handy - Early life, W. C. Handy - Musical and social development, W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business, W. C. Handy - Later life, W. C. Handy - Compositions, W. C. Handy - Performances honors recognition miscellany, W. C. Handy - Awards festivals and memorials

Read more here: » W. C. Handy: Encyclopedia II - W. C. Handy - Musical and social development

Following publication of his autobiography, Handy published a subsequent book on African American musicians entitled "Unsung Americans Sing," which was published in 1944. He wrote a total of five books 1. Blues: An Anthology: Complete Words and Music of 53 Great Songs; 2. Book of Negro Spirituals; 3. Father of the Blues: An Autobiography; 4. Unsung Americans Sung; 5. Negro Authors and Composers of the United States. In this time period, he lived on Strivers' Row in Harlem. An accidental fall from a subway platform in 1943 resulted in ...

See also:

W. C. Handy, W. C. Handy - Early life, W. C. Handy - Musical and social development, W. C. Handy - Transition: popularity fame and business, W. C. Handy - Later life, W. C. Handy - Compositions, W. C. Handy - Performances honors recognition miscellany, W. C. Handy - Awards festivals and memorials

Read more here: » W. C. Handy: Encyclopedia II - W. C. Handy - Later life