Scott Joplin is the most famous ragtime composer and pianist. The Entertainer is his best known composition. It was made popular by a movie in the 1970's called The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Born in Texas, Scott Joplin grew up in a large musical family. His father, a former slave, had been a plantation fiddler, his mother a singer. Scott learned to play several instruments and taught himself to play the piano. An old German music teacher heard of Joplin's talents. He was so impressed that he gave Scott free piano and harmony lessons. He taught Joplin about the works of the great European masters. In his early teens Joplin sang, played and taught professionally. He organized a touring vocal group. He moved to St. Louis where he played piano in clubs, cafes, and honky-tonks. He also toured a vaudeville circuit singing in his own eight-voice double quartet.

At George R. Smith College in Missouri, Joplin studied music and worked seriously at composition. He developed his own piano style of ragtime music. Ragtime music has a strong syncopation in the melody with a regularly accented accompaniment. Ragtime was, for a while, the name for any kind of jazz. Classical melodies were even given the ragtime treatment in a style known as "ragging the classics." The earliest jazz bands in New Orleans were called "ragtime bands." Ragtime music was popular on player pianos, in early movies, and in the old-time saloons. American ragtime became popular in Europe. Stravinsky wrote Ragtime for eleven instruments (1918) and Piano Rag-Music (1920).

The Maple Leaf Rag was Joplin's first big success. It was named after a dance hall where he had taught and played. The Maple Leaf Rag sold hundreds of thousands of copies and brought fame to both Scott and his publisher. It also brought financial security. Joplin was greatly encouraged and began producing many piano rags, marches, and waltzes. He also tried his hand at ballet and opera but his fame rests on his ragtime music. It has become a part of "classical" American music.