Remembering W.C. Handy Musician, composer and music publisher W.C. Handy, a leading influence in the popularization of blues music in the early 20th century, was born in Florence, Ala. on November 16, 1873. Born into a family of Methodist ministers and former slaves, William Christopher Handy was drawn to popular music at an early age. He faced resistance from his minister father who, leery of secular music, called Handy’s first guitar the “devil’s instrument” and steered him toward the organ. U