Eubie Blake

James Hubert Blake, better known as Eubie Blake, was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1887. His musical training started when he was just five years old. Blake got his big break when he was hired by champion boxer Joe Gans to play the piano at the Goldfield Hotel in 1907. Blake started playing in vaudeville shows in 1912. In 1921, Blake and Noble Sissle wrote Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written by African Americans. Some of Blake’s most famous compositions as a songwriter included “Charlseton Rag,” “Love Will Fin A Way,” “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” and “Memories of You.”