William Flynn

William Flynn (b.1902, d. 1981) grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He played the cornet at primary school and later studied the violin, clarinet and saxophone. He formed his own band, Billy O’Flynn's Band, in Melbourne in 1928 and which also toured Tasmania. In the 1930s he toured with various American bands in China, Russia and Japan, worked with J.C. Williamson and other companies, and was musical director of Legionnaire Records. During World War II he served with the Australian Army and was its chief musical arranger. After the War, William Flynn returned to Melbourne and worked with various ensembles and was musical director for Jack Davey at radio station 3AW. In 1949 he was appointed musical director and joint conductor (with Verdon Williams) of the new 3DB concert orchestra, which performed popular and light classical music. He wrote the musical accompaniment for various radio serials and arranged a weekly program, ‘The William Flynn Show’. The orchestra was disbanded in 1952. In later years he worked with many Melbourne singers, bands and his own orchestras and made a large number of recordings. He was also musical director of Spotlight (2) (an independent Australian label with the full name - Spotlight Microgroove Records).