Lewis, Katherine Handy, 1902-1982

Interviewee married Homer Lewis.

From the description of Reminiscences of Katherine Handy Lewis : oral history, 1958. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122481395

Katherine Handy Lewis was an early blues singer who was the first to sing the songs written by her father, W.C. Handy. Born in Normal, Alabama in 1902, her family moved to Harlem, New York in 1919. Mrs. Lewis performed at an historic concert at Carnegie Hall in 1928, the first evening of African American music presented in the then bastion of white music. At the concert, she sang "St. Louis Blues," written by her father, and one of the first blues songs ever published.

During the 1920s and 1930, Mrs. Lewis sang on the radio. Later she married Homer D. Lewis and retired from performing to raise a family. She stayed active, however, in the company founded by her father, Handy Brothers Music Company, of which she was president for a time. Mrs. Lewis died in 1982.

From the description of Katherine Handy Lewis papers, 1925-1983. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122517361