W.C. HANDY

W.C. Handy (also known as William Christopher Handy) was a black African American composer and musician from the 1890s to the 1950s. He referred to himself as the Father of the Blues, and was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, Handy did not create the blues genre but was the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style with a limited audience to a new level of popularity. He composed the song "Saint Louis Blues" (both the words and music) and was used in the 1941 Paramount movie of the same name starring Dorothy Lamour. He passed away in 1958 at the age of 84.