Satie was born on May 17, 1866. His father Alfred was French and his mother Jane was British. He had a younger brother named Conrad. Satie died on July 1, 1925 at the age of 59.
When Satie was four, he and his family moved to
Satie’s father soon remarried. Satie’s stepmother was a teacher of piano.
In 1879, Satie went to school at the Paris Conservatory. His teachers thought he played the piano badly and was very lazy. They sent him home. In 1885 he went back to the Conservatory, but he didn’t do any better. He decided to join the military. His bosses there sent him home as well.
In 1887, he got his own flat in the area of
While working at Le Chat Noire, Satie became friends with Claude Debussy. Ten years later, Satie needed money. To help his friend, Debussy rewrote “Gymnopedie No. 1” so that a whole orchestra could play it. By doing so, he increased the popularity of Satie's music.
Seventy years later an American band, Blood, Sweat and Tears, played their own variation of Satie's "Gymnopedie No. 1."
Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci. All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.