William Grant Still

African-American composer of classical and film music (born May 11, 1895 in Woodville, Mississippi – died December 3, 1978 (aged 83) in Los Angeles, California, USA).

Still took up the violin in high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Later, he also picked up double bass, viola, cello, oboe, clarinet, and saxophone. In 1911, at age 16, he graduated high school as valedictorian, then entered Wilberforce University in Ohio. He dropped out in 1915 because he much rather wanted to study music at a conservatory. In 1916, he briefly worked for [a=W.C. Handy] in Memphis. Soon afterwards, a small inheritance allowed him to take up classes at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where his theory professor arranged for him to receive free composition lessons when he realized that Still was struggling financially. In 1918, Still went to New York City and served for almost 9 months in the Navy. Afterwards, he briefly worked in a New Jersey shipyard. Finding this work not to his linking, he rejoined his young family (he had married in 1915) in Ohio and began playing the violin professionally.

Soon, however, Still returned to New York to work as an arranger, again for [a=W.C. Handy]. After that, he served as musical director and arranger of the first black-owned record label, Black Swan Records (2), from 1921 to 1923. In addition, Still played the oboe in the pit orchestra of the successful all-black musical "Shuffle Along" by Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake.

The early 1930s saw Still working as an arranger of popular music on the radio, including for Paul Whiteman's "Old Gold Show" and Willard Robison's "Deep River Hour." Between 1940 and 1941, he also wrote and arranged jazz pieces for Artie Shaw, such as "Blues," "Marinela," and "I Cover The Waterfront."

At the same time, Still began to have success as a composer of serious classical music. In 1931, his "Symphony No. 1 'Afro-American'" was performed by the Rochester Philharmonic. In 1934, Still received the first of three Guggenheim Fellowships for composition (the others came in 1935 and 1938). He moved to Los Angeles and began working on his first opera, "Blue Steel." Two years later, he became the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra when he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of his own works at the Hollywood Bowl. Starting in 1936, he also arranged and wrote music for numerous Hollywood movies.

All in all, Still composed almost two hundred works, including nine operas, five symphonies, four ballets, over thirty choral works, art songs, chamber music, and solo works.

Still's second wife (from 1939 to his death in 1978) was pianist, librettist, and writer Verna Arvey, who wrote the libretti for several of Still's operas..