Author Description

Billy Mayerl, as pianist-composer-celebrity-educator, was a unique figure in British music from the 1920s to the 1950s. While known to several generations as the composer of Marigold, Mayerl's accomplishments were amazingly varied. One of the most significant contributors to the genre of novelty piano, which succeeded ragtime and overlapped with early jazz, he also wrote more contemplative pieces belonging to the English pastoral tradition. Between the wars he became a familiar figure in the music halls, playing two pianos at once and taking requests; meanwhile he was composing for musical comedies involving some of England's best-known stars. He also started the Billy Mayerl School in 1926 to teach syncopated piano playing and branches opened across England and abroad. This book--which includes a full CD of Mayerl's historic playing--is the first detailed study of his work and should ensure a permanent place for Mayerl and his music.