COMPOSER

W. C. Handy

1873 - 1958

Photo of W. C. Handy

Icon of person W. C. Handy

William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) 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 (Delta blues) with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.Handy used elements of folk music in his compositions. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of W. C. Handy has received more than 970,406 page views. His biography is available in 26 different languages on Wikipedia. W. C. Handy is the 1,097th most popular composer (down from 944th in 2019), the 6,043rd most popular biography from United States (down from 4,632nd in 2019) and the 61st most popular American Composer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 970k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 49.01

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 26

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.53

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.94

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of W. C. Handies by language

Over the past year W. C. Handy has had the most page views in the with 107,144 views, followed by German (7,086), and French (3,990). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Simple English (72.31%), Belarusian (71.31%), and Hungarian (43.45%)

Among COMPOSERS

Among composers, W. C. Handy ranks 1,097 out of 1,451Before him are Emil Hartmann, František Škroup, Karl Klindworth, Emil Młynarski, Arturo Márquez, and Klaus Badelt. After him are Abdylas Maldybaev, Rudolf Tobias, Zygmunt Noskowski, Rudolf Friml, Kārlis Baumanis, and Harry Partch.

Most Popular Composers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1873, W. C. Handy ranks 141Before him are Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Nikolay Bauman, Jan Janský, E. T. Whittaker, Oscar von Sydow, and Al Smith. After him are Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, Rudolf Tobias, Leo Slezak, Marcel Boulenger, Ivan Babushkin, and Rosa Sensat. Among people deceased in 1958, W. C. Handy ranks 125Before him are Willie Applegarth, Bhagwan Das, Feodor Gladkov, Lydia Lipkowska, Karl Lashley, and Henock Abrahamsson. After him are Mike Todd, Estelle Taylor, Nikolay Zabolotsky, Jean Debucourt, Jan Kok, and John Marshall.

Others Born in 1873

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Others Deceased in 1958

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In United States

Among people born in United States, W. C. Handy ranks 6,043 out of 20,380Before him are Geraldine Ferraro (1935), Kim Dickens (1965), Stan Hansen (1949), Lupe Ontiveros (1942), Ben Sharpsteen (1895), and Willie Colón (1950). After him are Al Corley (1956), Anthony Downs (1930), Justin Gatlin (1982), Roger McGuinn (1942), Jack Northrop (1895), and Nicky Hayden (1981).

Among COMPOSERS In United States

Among composers born in United States, W. C. Handy ranks 61Before him are Kevin MacLeod (1972), Frederic Rzewski (1938), Peter H. Gilmore (1958), Leonard Rosenman (1924), Carter Burwell (1954), and Raymond Scott (1908). After him are Harry Partch (1901), Morton Gould (1913), Roger Sessions (1896), Frank Churchill (1901), Gunther Schuller (1925), and Leigh Harline (1907).