W. C. Handy

William Christopher Handy was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. He 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 one of 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.

16 November 1873

Born on the same birth day (16 November): André-Frank Zambo Anguissa • Chi Coltrane • Craig Arnold • Dan Black • Dean McDermott • Diana Krall • Elisabeth of the Palatinate, Landgravine of Hesse • Elpidio Quirino • Jannie du Plessis • Julio Lugo • Jónas Hallgrímsson • Maeve Quinlan • Martijn Zuijdweg • Osi Umenyiora • Paul Hindemith • Walter Learning

Born in the same month (November 1873): Božena Benešová • Daniel Gregory Mason • Henri Rabaud • Herbert Roper Barrett • Johnny Tyldesley • Leo Amery