Joplin, Scott
(1868–1917)> COMPOSER
Scott Joplin Composer and “father of ragtime piano” Bowie County, Texas, November 24, 1868; New York City, April 1, 1917. He was one of six children of a musical family and was given piano lessons as a child. He made his way as an itinerant pianist throughout the Mississippi Valley, appearing in 1885 at the Silver Dollar Saloon in St. Louis. After performing near the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, he came to the small town of Sedalia, Missouri, where he joined the Queen City Concert Band as…