W. C. Handy

William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 - March 28, 1958) was an African American blues composer, often known as "The Father of the Blues".

Performances, honors, recognition, miscellany

• On April 27, 1928 he performed a program of jazz, blues, plantation songs, work songs, piano solos, spirituals and a Negro rhapsody in Carnegie Hall.
• In 1938 he performed at the National Folk Festival in Washington, DC, his first national performance on a desegregated stage.
• He performed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 and 1934 and the New York World's Fair in 1939 and 1940.
• In 1940, NBC broadcast an All-Handy program.
• In 1958, a movie about his life - appropriately entitled St. Louis Blues - was released.
• On May 17, 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor.
• He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.
• He received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 1993.
• He was also a 1993 Inductee into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame with the Lifework Award for Performing Achievement.
• Citing "...2003 as the centennial anniversary of when W.C. Handy composed the first Blues music..." the United States Senate in 2002 passed a resolution declaring that beginning February 1, 2003 as the "Year of the Blues".
• Each November 16, Mr. Handy's birthday is celebrated with free music, birthday cake and free admission to the W.C. Handy Museum in Florence, Alabama. The hand-hewn log cabin made by his grandfather is his birthplace and museum.