Missouri Classical Music News

John William "Blind" Boone was born May 17, 1864, in Miami, Mo., the mixed-race son of Rachael Boone, who had once been a slave for the family of Daniel Boone, thus her surname.

At age 6 months, Boone suffered from a high fever, and his eyes were removed to relieve his condition, a practice of the time. His eyelids were sewed shut. . . .

He grew into one of the nation's most popular pianists and one of the giants of what would become ragtime music. He came to Columbia in 1879, and our city became his home until his death on Oct. 4, 1927.

In 1891, Boone, who literally destroyed pianos with the force of his playing, had a piano built for him out of oak - not ebony - that was 9 feet long and weighed more than 1,900 pounds, at least 500 pounds heavier than normal grand pianos. It traveled with him around the world for three decades.