Leonard Isaacs: Five Lives in One - Good Cheer Publishing

Words & Music

Dear RSVP: Listeners Share Music, Life and Laughter with Leon Cole was the very first Good Cheer project. More recently it has been joined by a recording called The RSVP Collection and Leonard Isaacs: Five Lives in One, the memoirs of a grand old man of Canadian music.

Leonard Isaacs: Five Lives in One

Leonard Isaacs was a remarkable man and he truly did live "Five Lives in One" -- he was a fine pianist, an inspiring teacher, a witty adjudicator, a clear-headed administrator and an influential broadcaster with both the BBC and CBC.

But there was much more. At various times in his long life, Leonard Isaacs was also a tramp, a boy scout, a military bandsman, a composer and arranger, and the conductor of an orchestra that was nearly deported from Canada in 1932. He was also a proud father and husband.

Leonard Isaacs died on December 6th, 1997, at the age of 88. His daughter Margaret acted as his editor. Now, we can all share in his fascinating life and times. Why not read an excerpt about the amazing Donkey Tour?

Leonard Isaacs has also written about his large musical family and about encounters with luminaries like Sir Malcolm Sargent, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Maurice Ravel.
This book is for anyone who knew Leonard Isaacs and his work. It's also invaluable for anyone interested in serious music or broadcasting.

Leonard Isaacs: Five Lives in One (ISBN 0-9681444-1-1) is in trade paperback (with 30 photographs) and is available for $8 US or $11 Canadian (shipping included.)

Place your order here!

Reaction to Leonard Isaacs: Five Lives in One.

James Manishen wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press that he delighted in "the wealth of stories and the droll, delicious way in which they're told." The book is "seamlessly edited to make a fluid, biographical portrait…Leonard Isaacs was a man lucky enough to have found his passion, skilled enough to make a success of it and engaging enough to tell about it. His memoirs are a treasurable read."

Music critic Andrew Thompson wrote, " How much more real a great artist becomes when those little everyday moments of life are illuminated. Now that these memoirs have been published many more people will be able to share in the rich musical tapestry that Dr. Isaacs brought to Canada."