Robert Joseph Farnon (July 24, 1917 – April 23, 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the allied expeditionary force sent overseas during World War II, which was the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the AEF led by Major Glenn Miller. At the end of the war
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Robert Joseph Farnon (July 24, 1917 – April 23, 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the allied expeditionary force sent overseas during World War II, which was the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the AEF led by Major Glenn Miller. At the end of the war, Farnon decided to make England his home, and he later moved to Guernsey in the Channel Islands with his wife and children. He was considered by his peers the finest arranger in the world, and his talents influenced many composer-arrangers including Quincy Jones, all of whom acknowledge his contributions to their work. Conductor André Previn called him "the greatest writer for strings in the world." Robert Farnon died at the age of eighty-seven at a hospice near his home of forty years in Guernsey. He was survived by his wife Patricia and their five children. Robert Farnon is probably best known for two famous pieces of light music, Jumping Bean and Portrait of a Flirt, which were originally released as the A and B sides on the same 78. Also famous are his Westminster Waltz and A Star is Born.
