William Christopher Handy born November 16, 1873 in Florence, Alabama, was a blues composer and musician, often known as the "Father of the Blues", and is noted for giving blues it's contemporary form. Handy joined a local band as a teenager, but kept this a secret from his parents. He took an interest to teach music, readily passed a teaching exam and started teaching musicians how to read notes and organizeda a small string orchestra. Moving with his band to Memphis, Tennessee in 1909, he quickly gained recognition and started to record his works, which many if not all were published by himself and was the first to do so. Handy also wrote a number of books on his life and music and On March 28, 1958, W. C. Handy succumbed to acute bronchial pneumonia and died at the age of 85.
He received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 1993.
He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985, and was 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 the year beginning February 1, 2003 as the "Year of the Blues."
On May 17, 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor. Inducted in the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.
">
No comments:
Post a Comment