WC Handy
Blues Singer
Blues composer and musician known as the Father of the Blues. He took the blues from being a regional genre to a mainstream one.
He was a teacher and worked at a pipe works plant before achieving success in the music industry.
He was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He married Elizabeth Price in 1896. They had six children together.
He was portrayed by Nat King Cole in the film St. Louis Blues from 1958.