W.C. Handy

A music composer from Florence. Alabama, was born on this day. He was originally a cornet player with the Bessemer Brass Band. In 1893, he took a vocal quartet to Chicago and 3 years later he became musical director for the Mahara Minstrels. He taught and led a band at Huntsville Agricultural and Mechanical College. He was the first to put the essence of jazz and blues down on paper. His most famous compositions are "Memphis Blues" ,which he wrote in 1912, and his masterpiece, "St. Louis Blues", which he wrote in 1914. He went blind in the early 1920s. From then on he worked mostly as a composer, but he did a brief tour with Jelly Roll Morton's band. He was severely injured when he fell on the tracks of a New York City subway and spent the rest of his life as a semi invalid. His autobiography "Father of the Blues" was published in 1941. In 1958 the biographical film "St. Louis Blues" starred Nat King Cole.

Happy Birthday to W.C. Handy.

That's this day in R&B Music History on 107.5 WBLS.