Why is wc handy famous

Handy, however, was not so quickly demoralized. He decided to continue operating the recording company he had formed with Pace, even if this meant working alone. The hit single by Smith became so popular that offers started pouring from the film industry. Director Dudley Murphy urged Handy to collaborate on a motion picture, one that was eventually released in and aired all across the United States.

He mostly concentrated on publicizing works of other musicians, while also occasionally contributing original pieces. Towards the end of his career, W. Handy spent time performing at various venues and events such as the Chicago World Fair in the early s and the National Folk Festival in the late s. He became a successful bandleader, but wanted to be a songwriter. The printer added lyrics, republished it, and the song became a huge hit. Handy became famous, if not rich. Pioneering black bandleader James Reese Europe adopted the song to accompany headlining dance team Vernon and Irene Castle, who were inspired to invent the Fox Trot.

Europe deferred to Handy. Handy and Pace split up the partnership in ; Pace forming Black Swan, the first, black-owned record company.

In , Handy published his classic songbook, Blues, An Anthology. His greatest successes were behind him, but Handy had made himself a wealthy man, living in a comfortable Tudor home just north of New York City in the affluent suburb of Yonkers.

Memphis still claimed him. In , the city christened Handy Park on Beale Street. In , tributes continued with the opening of The W. He died on March 28, , and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, not far from his home Duke Ellington is also buried there. That same year saw the release of St.

In , Memphis, still a segregated city, erected a statue in Handy Park in honor of its favorite African-American son. This, plus the royalties from his songs, brought him considerable wealth. But in the s his sight began to fail, and by he was totally blind. In his later years he worked unceasingly for his W.

Handy Foundation for the Blind and other charitable organizations. His first wife, Elizabeth Price, with whom he had six children, died in In , at the age of 80, he married again. He was honored by having a theater and a park in Memphis, and a library in Philadelphia named after him during his lifetime.

He died in ; in the W. Handy 6-cent postage stamp was issued. Handy edited Blues: An Anthology ; reprinted in as A Treasury of the Blues , which contains a comprehensive selection of blues by him and others and includes biographical material on Handy.