| Biography | Conductor, adjudicator, and, most famously, composer - his marches for brass band earned him the title of "The Welsh Sousa" - Tom ("T.J.") Powell was born in Tredegar on 12 October 1897. From an early age, he performed with Salvation Army bands on side drum and cornet, and was the youngest member of the band that played for the funeral of SA founder William Booth on the 27th of August 1912 at Olympia in London. He briefly played with the Tredegar Town Band before joining the Royal Marines during the period around World War One.
In 1920, he returned to his native region to take up the appointment of MD with the Melingriffith Volunteer and Cadet Corps Band, with whom he remained associated for the rest of his life, leading them from musical obscurity to become one of the most prominent bands of the quarter century following World War Two.
He was widely recognised as an important musician, holding the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians of London and the Diploma of Honour of the NBCCC of Great Britain, but his most enduring legacy lies in the marches that he wrote for his Melingriffith band, or which the two best known are perhaps "The Contestor" and "Castell Coch".
Powell died on 29 January 1965, aged 67, live on air on BBC radio - as he rose from his seat to conduct the Cory Band in a broadcast for the series 'Challenging Brass', he collapsed, suffering a fatal heart attack. |