W.C. Handy

Handy traveled the country at the turn of the last century in black minstral shows. He came off the road and became a music professor at Alabama A&M and then quit to go back on the road. He made more money as a minstral !

Handy wasn't particularly known for hit songs. It was his Memphis Blues Band that first coined the term Blues in a song title and musical description. He was the first to publish "The St. Louis Blues".

Handy played guitar and coronet (a small trumpet) and could read, write and arrange music.

W.C. founded the Handy Record Company in New York City in the 1920's. He stayed in New York as a performer and is still there, buried in the Bronx.

Handy paved the dirt road that was the Blues.