NOVELLO, IVOR

Ivor Novello was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Madame Novello Davies, a singing teacher, and David Davies, an accountant and enthusiastic amateur musician. As a child Novello played the piano and had a fine soprano voice. He started to compose songs at the age of fifteen and had some published the following year. In 1914 he wrote one of his most famous songs, Keep the Home Fires Burning, introduced at the Alhambra Theatre by the Welsh singer Sybil Vane...