Born: November 13, 1873, Glenfawn, Texas.
Died: April 23, 1911, Nacogdoches, Texas, of appendicitis. He had been living in Cushing, Texas, at the end of his life.
Buried: Gould Cemetery, Sulphur Springs, Texas.
Sharp was the son of George Thomas McNiel and Susan Frances Wallace, brother of Thomas McNiel, and husband of Nettie Lee Irby.
He was educated in the public schools, and began studying music at an early age, under his brother Thomas. Note: Showalter, page 291, incorrectly gives Thomas’ initials as L. L.
Sharp’s next teachers were J. B. Martin and Miss Margarite Wood.
In 1898, he attended his first session of the Southern Normal Musical Institute (SNMI) in Mansfield, Texas, conducted by Anthony Showalter and Edwin Moore. He received his diploma from the SNMI at Childress, Texas, in 1901.
He later taught at a number of normals
and other schools, and, with Bernard N. Richards, formed the McNiel-Richards Music Company in Cushing, Texas.
In his books, McNiel sometimes used the # symbol (a musical sharp) for his first name.