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Phillip Sousa was born Washington, D.C. to a Portuguese father and a German mother, and his early life was already filled with music (his father was a trombonist).
Semper Fidelis (1889) became the official march of the United States Marine Corps. He wrote The Washington Post March for an essay contest awards ceremony for the Washington Post newspaper. Sousa subsequently known as “The March King”. In 1893 he composed The Liberty Bell March, which is known to most people as the theme song for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The fourth march worth mentioning is The Stars And Stripes Forever, which is also known as the National March of the United States of America. Sousa even had an instrument made to his own specification (being dissatisfied with the sound of tubas), which subsequently became known as the sousaphone and has become a mainstay in marching bands.
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