Catalogue > Nom de plume

Carey’s Pen-Names

Works written under a pseudonym


Although his reasons for doing so are now unclear, Carey wrote a small number of works under a pseudonym. The first known example is Park Lane Stroll, whose original manuscript bears the name Mark Stevens. Perhaps Carey originally felt that he should use another name for this kind of light-hearted pastiche and save his own name for more serious compositions. That is merely supposition, however. Either way, he subsequently catalogued Park Lane Stroll as one of his own works, gave it the opus number 27 and allowed it to be published under his own name.

There were four later works, however, that were indeed published under an invented name, presumably because they were all simplified piano arrangements of popular works by light entertainers of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The four works fall into two groups of two, and curiously they were published by two different publishers, although they are all presented in exactly the same style and were produced at much the same time. The first two books of arrangements were published by Mills Music Ltd (Carey’s then employer), and each contains five pieces by, respectively, Russ Conway and Leroy Anderson. The precise dates of composition are not known, but it appears that Simplified Arrangements for Piano RUSS CONWAY was the first to be published, in 1960, with Simplified Arrangements for Piano LEROY ANDERSON following in 1961. For both of these sets of arrangements, Carey reused the name Mark Stevens.

There were then two further books of arrangements, containing pieces by Tony Osborne published in two volumes: The TONY OSBORNE Album and The TONY OSBORNE Album Book Two (both subtitled Simplified Arrangements of Successful Compositions). Despite having a near-identical format (same size, same landscape presentation, similar design of two-colour cover and each containing five pieces), these books were published by Mason Music Ltd and used Roy Green as the name of the arranger.