Lance Harrison

Lance was born in Vancouver circa 1913, to Tom and Mildred Harrison. He attended Lord Byng High School, skipping 3 grades. He never did graduate, as he became so involved with playing jazz music. He joined the air force and played in the reserve band. Before the war, he married Mayve, for a short time, and there were no children. Just before the war he married Doris Campbell, and they had a son, Thomas Lance. They divorced after the war, and he married Virginia Thorburn (nee Florence Thorburn), a dancer. They were married 31 years until she died. They had a daughter. They met at a rehearsal at the night club, The Cave, in Vancouver. Sammy Davis Junior was also there, and told Lance that he had a date with Virginia, who was rehearsing her line of dancers that afternoon. Lance decided to come along on Sammy's date. Lance was very well known for his dixieland band, (Lance Harrison's Dixieland Band), which represented British Columbia in the world's fair of 1967, in Montreal. When Louis Armstrong's band was playing in Vancouver, Louis asked Lance to join his band and tour with him, but Lance declined as he wanted to stay in Vancouver, where his son was. For a few years circa 1966, his larger band was the band on "Some of Those Days" on CBC. He wrote the arrangements for the band and was also the band leader. He also sang and performed in the show, which was choreographed by his wife, Virginia. CBC also made Lance the protagonist of a special show, where Lance visited New Orleans, interviewing his favourite musicians such as Eddie Miller. Another TV show he did was the series, "Lance's Jazz House".