John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. He was the third of 10 children of João António de Sousa, who was of Portuguese and Spanish ancestry and his German wife Maria Elisabeth Trinkhaus. His father was a trombonist by profession who played with the Marine Band.

When he was 13, Sousa was offered a job as a musician in a circus. His father, disapproving of the plan, arranged for him instead to be apprenticed to the Marine Band, the official band of the president of the United States.

Appointed leader of the Marine Band in 1880, Sousa's Band, as it was called, achieved great popularity during its many tours of the United States and Europe.