Publisher Description

Brian Kay has spent his entire working life in a career that is both successful and rewarding. His fascinating collection of memories and anecdotes throws a hugely entertaining light on a life entirely devoted to the joy of music and music-making.He was the founder bass of the internationally renowned vocal group The King's Singers, spent the next 25 years writing and presenting thousands of programmes for BBC Radios - his own Brian Kay's Sunday Morning on Radio 3 to such Radio 2 favourites as Friday Night is Music Night and Melodies for You.He then moved back to the open spaces of the concert hall, conducting choral and orchestral concerts all over the world, including his annual 4000-voice Really Big Chorus Messiah from Scratch in London's Royal Albert Hall. He has been the lowest frog on a Paul McCartney single and a member of the backing group for Pink Floyd.Brian Kay recounts his fascinating life in intimate and amusing detail, sharing with us his great love of life and his abiding passion for music.

Author Biography

Brian Kay was born in 1944 and was a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, co-founded The King's Singers and has shared his life between the studios of BBC radio and television and the concert halls of the world as a choral and orchestral conductor. Brian is married to the soprano Gillian Fisher, has a son, a daughter and three grandchildren, and lives in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire.

Review

Brian Kay, the Radio 3 presenter and member of the King's Singers, has written an entertaining book of musical memories. They include his definition of a real music aficionado: "A man who hears a beautiful woman singing in the bath and puts his ear to the keyhole". I mentioned yesterday the recent memoir by Brian Kay, the Radio 3 present and member of the King's Singers, who were once mistakenly billed as an "all-male grope". Kay is fond of noting amusing errors, such as the BBC announcer who said that a piece of music was sung by "the choir of King's College, Cambridge, conducted by the immortal David Willcocks, who died yesterday". Patrick Kidd, The Times Diary, Nov 2020; 'The heart-warming story of a bright Yorkshire lad's 50-year journey from aspiring singer to much-loved broadcaster, choral conductor and national treasure. Every anecdote is a gem, and by the end the world seems a sunnier place.' John Rutter - Composer; 'This book has achieved the impossible: it is as charming, as witty, as winsome and good-natured as its author. We can all share in this wonderful life full of music.' Anne Atkins - Broadcaster, Novelist; 'A delightful read, which will bring enormous pleasure to the many musicians who have worked with him, and to countless other readers who have not had that great fortune.' Jane Glover - Conductor.

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