In this book, I got to indulge two loves at once - music and history.
I first discovered the music of Felix Burns when I bought a job lot of sheet music from Ebay, and one of the books was The Black and White Dance Album. Since then, I've discovered a very interesting man, a prolific composer and a whole lot more of his music.
Then I discovered there wasn't a biography - and decided to write one.
So this is Felix Burns; his parents were loving and musically talented, but his father was troubled by mental health issues. Felix left home at the age of 16, joined a travelling show, married his cousin, settled down in Carlisle, raised 13 children, taught, conducted, performed and composed more than 400 pieces of music.
The family lived through the Boer War and the Great War, and had their share of tragedy, including the loss of four young children. Throughout, Felix kept working.
Among his many pupils were his own children; three sons became professional bandleaders and a daughter was a cinema pianist.
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