Charles L. Johnson Musical artist

Charles Leslie Johnson (December 3, 1876 - December 28, 1950) was an American composer of ragtime and popular music. He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, died in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived his entire life in those two cities. He published over 300 songs in his life, nearly 40 of them ragtime compositions such as "Doc Brown’s Cakewalk", "Dill Pickles", "Apple Jack (Some Rag)", and "Snookums Rag". His best selling piece, a sentimental ballad called "Sweet and Low", sold over a million copies. Experts believe that had Johnson lived and worked in New York, he would be included alongside Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Joseph Lamb as one of the greatest ragtime composers. He wrote more than the other three combined and exemplified a greater range of talent, composing waltzes, tangos, cakewalks, marches, novelty pieces, and other types of music popular at that time.

Personal facts

Charles L. Johnson
Birth dateDecember 03, 1876
Date of deathDecember 28, 1950
Hometown
Kansas City Kansas
United States

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Musical artist

Career started1900
Career ended1945
BackgroundNon vocal instrumentalist
genre
Ragtime
Song
Waltz (music)
Tango music
March (music)
instrument
Banjo
Guitar
Mandolin
Piano
Violin

Charles L. Johnson on Wikipedia

External resources

  1. http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/ShtMus&CISOPTR=230&REC=5
  2. http://www.angelfire.com/ks/landzastanza/index.html#cjohnson
  3. http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/1416