Toe tapping, finger snapping, hummable tunes – that’s what Charles N. Daniels was known for.
Daniels exercised considerable influence on American popular music during the first decade of the twentieth century.
At the age of 18 he entered a contest and penned the notes to Margery . He won $25 for his efforts, and more importantly, the attentions of John Philip Sousa. Sousa’s band popularized the song and Charles Daniels’ career as a composer was off to an exceptional start.
His next major hit was Hiawatha . He sold the publishing rights to it for ten thousand dollars – an astonishing sum at the time. Several million copies of the sheet music were sold.