Charles Hubbard Thompson (June 19, 1891 – June 13, 1964) was a ragtime pianist and composer.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he took some piano lessons during his youth, though he later described himself as self-taught. He left St. Louis in 1911 to tour in Ohio and Indiana. In 1912, he met James P. Johnson in either Washington D.C or Coney Island. Thompson also played in Buffalo, New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Erie/Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City/New Jersey.

Charles Hubbard Thompson

He won the great ragtime contest of 1916 in the Booker T. Washington Theatre of in St. Louis, with his composition "The Lily Rag". He defeated Tom Turpin, the owner of the theatre and the owner of the "Rosebud Club", where nearly all the great ragtimers of America met since 1900.

Charles Hubbard Thompson

See also

List of ragtime composers

References

External links

audio recording of Swanee Ripples Rag at the Library of Congress jukebox

Ragtime composers

1891 births

1964 deaths

20th-century composers

Charles Hubbard Thompson