John Philip Sousa
November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932
John Philip Sousa was a composer and band conductor who achieved great acclaim for his military and patriotic marches. Fittingly born in our nation’s capital city, he began learning music at just six years old. When he was 13, his father, who was a Marine band member, found a place for him within the Corps’ band as an apprentice, thus paving the way for his musical legacy. It was either that, his father thought, or the circus. Besides later leading the Marine Corps Band himself, Sousa lead the President’s Own Band under five U.S. Presidents. Of the 100s of compositions he penned, Sousa is best remembered for “Stars and Stripes Forever,” “Semper Fidelis” (the official march of the Marine Corps), “U.S. Field Artillery’ (Official march of the U.S. Army), and “The Liberty Bell,” which became popular as the closing theme for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He was also the namesake for the sousaphone, a tuba instrument he commissioned that was taller than normal so it could be heard over the heads of the other band members. John Phillip Sousa was 77 when he died of heart failure on March 6, 1932.