Johnny Cowell
Johnny Cowell, born January 11, 1926 in London, Ontario, is a Canadian trumpeter, composer and arranger.[1]
Cowell's father and three uncles were members of the Tillsonburg Town Band, and Cowell played his first trumpet solo with this band at age six.[1]
Cowell joined the Toronto Symphony Band in 1941 at the age of 15 as trumpet soloist.[1][2]
Cowell is largely self-taught but after joining the Toronto Symphony Band he studied briefly with Edward Smeale in Toronto.[1]
He served during World War II as soloist with the Royal Canadian Navy band in Victoria, BC, and played first trumpet from 1943-5 with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. He later studied composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCMT) with Oskar Morawetz and John Weinzweig.[1]
From 1952 to 1991 he played with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.[1]
Cowell has composed more than 200 songs, almost 150 have been recorded and several of them have become well known. Among them 'Walk Hand in Hand', 'His Girl,' and '(These Are) the Young Years' with Floyd Cramer.[3] His song 'Walk Hand in Hand' (1956) has been recorded over 90 times [2] making Cowell one of Canada's most successful songwriters[1]
Private Life
Cowell married his wife Joan on 26 September 1953.[4] They met six years earlier when he began playing trumpet for the dance band in which Joan was the vocalist. Cowell and his wife have a daughter, Marcie and three grandchildren.[4]
Discography
Cowell has released more than 10 LPs and CDs.
- 1997 - The Art of Johnny Cowell
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/johnny-cowell-emc/ Johnny Cowell in the Canadian encyclopedia
- 1 2 "Regrets? He's had so few | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
- ↑ https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/01/17/regrets-hes-had-so-few.html Interview in 'The Star'
- 1 2 "Cowells celebrate 60 years of marriage - 56 of them in the same Scarborough home". www.insidetoronto.com. Retrieved 2016-05-27.