Scott Joplin (ca. 1867-1917) was an American composer and pianist that would become known as the King of Ragtime. Musically talented from a young age, he would be taken under the wings of a German-born music teacher who instilled in him a love for European classical composition, especially opera. He would take his talent on the road and traveled across the country performing with various musical groups. Not just a performer, in 19896 he began composing, albeit with limited success at the start. His list of works includes 44 ragtime pieces, a ragtime ballet, and two operas. Before Joplin, ragtime was seen as vulgar, but Joplin refined the genre and pioneered what would be called Classic Rag, a blend of African-American and European musical styles. His most popular song was the Maple Leaf Rag (heard above); it would become the most influential of all ragtime pieces and became a model for subsequent works in the genre. It has been claimed that over 1 million copies of the sheet music to Maple Leaf Rag sold in Joplin’s lifetime, this would be a first. None his pieces would ever reach this level of popularity again, but in 1976 Joplin would receive a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for music.
Source: scottjoplin.org