1. Archibald Joyce, born Arthur Joyce, was an English light music composer and bandleader of the early 20th century.
21 Facts About Archibald Joyce
1. 2.
Archibald Joyce is known for his popular short waltzes for dancing, such as Dreaming, Songe d'Automne and Vision of Salome.
3.
Archibald Joyce's waltzes were part of the White Star Line's orchestra repertoire, and likely played on the fatal maiden voyage of Titanic.
4.
Arthur Joyce was born in London in May 1873 at 68 Winchester Street, Pimlico.
5.
Archibald Joyce's father was in the Grenadier Guards as a band sergeant.
6.
Archibald Joyce showed his musical abilities early, singing in a church choir in Paddington and learning violin and piano.
7.
Archibald Joyce began his professional career as a pianist at London's Oxford Music Hall in the 1890s but soon started playing for the ballet, most notably the company run by Katti Lanner at the Empire Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square with Madame Genee as its leading ballerina.
8.
Archibald Joyce began composing to expand the repertoire of his orchestra.
9.
Archibald Joyce has been credited as conducting "the first modern dance band in Britain".
10.
Archibald Joyce recorded for the Gramophone Company HMV-label in London as early as 1912, and from the early 1920s his orchestras recorded material for the Aeolian Company's Vocalion Records label.
11.
Archibald Joyce's last published piece was Recruits on Parade, which appeared in 1951.
12.
Archibald Joyce married Florence Mary Latter in 1919 and there was one adopted daughter, Maisie Parkinson.
13.
Archibald Joyce moved to Bexhill-on-Sea in 1927, and then to Sutton in Surrey from 1932, at 75 Langley Park Road.
14.
Archibald Joyce died there in 1963, at the age of 89, his life just overlapping with The Beatles.
15.
Archibald Joyce's first published piece, a two-step called The Moke's Parade, did not become popular.
16.
Songs by Archibald Joyce include I'm Skipper of a Submarine, God's Greatest Gift, The Rogue of the Road, Awake, The Morning Light, Dreams of Bohemia, Friends Dear to Me and The Modern Girl.
17.
In 1916 Archibald Joyce co-wrote the musical Toto with Merlin Morgan.
18.
Archibald Joyce's last published piece was Recruits on Parade, which appeared in 1951.
19.
Archibald Joyce's music was taken up by other dance orchestras and by amateur pianists.
20.
Archibald Joyce disliked jazz, avoiding the syncopation and saxophones favoured by the younger generation of dance hall composers.
21.
Archibald Joyce's ensemble was among the first generation of dance orchestras, soon to lose ground to brass and saxophone-dominated bands.