Billy Mayerl was born in London and from 1926 ran his own School of Modern Syncopation in the cause of the style of piano-playing that he championed. Thanks to correspondence courses his ‘teachings’ spread worldwide, and he even counted the future King George VI as a pupil. Among the many pieces he composed and recorded, Marigold (1927), remains his signature tune and best-seller, with 150,000 copies of the sheet music sold in the first twenty years. Not surprisingly, he named his Hampstead home after it.
© 2006 Philip Lane
