Robert Ely composer / arranger

Born in Lewisham at the very end of 1949, the first of five children, Robert’s family moved to the city of Leicester in the mid 1950’s where he did his schooling finishing at the City of Leicester Boy’s Grammar School. It was here that he developed his musical interest with the encouragement of the school’s music master - even though there were insufficient pupils interested to warrant full music lessons!

In 1967 he joined the British Army as a musician, firstly playing clarinet and viola with the Band of the Royal Corps of Signals, then (after some difficult equestrian training) for four further years as principle flute of the Band of the Life Guards. During this time, he was developing his arranging and composition skills and in 1976 was chosen to attend the Royal Military School of Music on an accelerated promotion course to train as a Bandmaster.