Eric Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and a viola player.
He had an early success with the overture The Merrymakers (1922), but more popular was the London Suite (1933). The last movement of this, "Knightsbridge", was used by the BBC to introduce their radio programme In Town Tonight. Amongst his early champions was Sir Edward Elgar.
Coates's autobiography, Suite in Four Movements, was published in 1953. He died in Chichester in 1957 aged 71, having suffered a stroke and was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium. His son, Austin Coates (1922–1997), was a writer who lived much of his life in Asia.
Eric Coates was not related to Albert Coates, the contemporary conductor and composer.
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