African-American Composer and Pianist Whose Compositions Included Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer

African-American composer and pianist whose compositions included Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer crossword clue. THE PRIZE CROSSWORD Puzzle at The Mail on Sunday on 11 Jun 2017. 1 letters, 2 words(5,6)

There’s an amazing £1,500 prize for the first correct solution drawn at random in our general knowledge Prize Crossword. Entries must arrive by Friday, June 16 (photocopies not accepted). Today’s solution will appear next week and the winner’s name on Sunday, July 2.

The answer: Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin 1867/68 – April 1, 1917 was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the “King of Ragtime Writers”.[2] During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first, and most popular pieces, the “Maple Leaf Rag”, became ragtime’s first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.[3]

Joplin was born into a musical family of railway laborers in Northeast Texas, and developed his musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. Joplin grew up in Texarkana, where he formed a vocal quartet, and taught mandolin and guitar. During the late 1880s he left his job as a laborer with the railroad, and travelled around the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the World’s Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897.