Conductor and composer Sir Julius Benedict was born in Stuttgart, the son of a wealthy banker. He learnt composition in Weimar and Dresden and was appointed Kapellmeister of the Kärnthnerthor theatre at Vienna in 1823. Two years later he became Kapellmeister of the San Carlo theatre at Naples where he produced his first two operas. In 1834 he went to Paris, leaving the next year for London, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Benedict was given the conductorship of an operatic enterprise at the Lyceum Theatre in 1836 and he brought out a short opera previously given in Naples. He became conductor of the English opera at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and produced several of his own operas and conducted Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah at Exeter Hall, for the first appearance of Jenny Lind in oratorio. In 1850 he was the accompanist and conductor on Lind's tour of America. On his return he became musical conductor at Her Majesty's Theatre (and afterwards at Drury Lane), and conductor of the Harmonic Union. His best-known opera, The Lily of Killarney, was produced at Covent Garden and his operetta The Bride of Song was introduced there.

Benedict wrote a march for the wedding of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark in 1863. Graziella, a cantata, was given at the Birmingham Festival of 1882, and was later produced in operatic form at the Crystal Palace.

Benedict conducted every Norwich Festival from 1845 to 1878 inclusive, and the Liverpool Philharmonic Society's concerts from late 1875 to 1880. He was the regular accompanist at the Monday Popular Concerts in London from their start, and acted as conductor of these concerts. In 1871 he was knighted, and in 1874 was made knight commander of the orders of Franz Joseph I of Austria and Frederick I of Württemberg. In 1884, friends set up a benefit fund to aid him financially. He died in London on 5 June 1885.

A selective list of his orchestral works includes 13 works, 7 choral and vocal works, 8 operatic works and 5 other compositions.

American songwriter Claude A. "Bennie" Benjamin was born in the Virgin Islands. Due to limited family means he trained as a tailor and cabinet maker before moving to New York in 1927.

He studied banjo and guitar at Hy Smith's School of Music, developing a distinctive playing style, and began performing in dance bands. He played guitar and banjo with various orchestras at the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club and wrote songs, but had little success until forming a songwriting partnership in the mid-1930s with New York-born composer Sol Marcus. With Marcus and two others he wrote “ I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” a recording of which rose to number 1 and a second number 1 hit which won Billboard’s Top Songwriter’s Award for 1941.

Benjamin enlisted in the US Army in 1942, and performed in and produced entertainment shows. After returning to civilian life, he joined with lyricist George David Weiss, and established a second successful songwriting partnership with him. The pair wrote some twenty hit songs over the next decade.

He established a publishing company with Perry Como in 1950. He became more active as a music publisher in the 1960s, and set up Benjamin Publishing in 1965 and Bennie Benjamin Music in 1968. He was actively involved in ASCAP, winning an award for "I'll Never Be Free" in 1979, and was on the Council of the American Guild of Authors and Composers. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.

James Bennet was born on January 17, 1817, in Boardmills, Down County, Northern Ireland.

He was a Presbyterian clergyman, editor, and author. He received his undergraduate degree at the classical school of the Belfast Academical Institution. He pursued studies in theology in Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, received into the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1840, and ordained at Tassagh in 1843. In 1854, he moved to Canada and took up the post of minister in the Saint John Presbyterian Church located in Saint John, New Brunswick where he stayed until his retirement in 1882. He also worked as an editor and author at the Colonial Presbyterian and Protestant Journal and the Saint John Daily Telegraph. Bennet played a pivotal role in the development of the Free Church Synod, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, and his most enduring legacy was his contribution to the development of church union. He received a D.D. degree from Davidson College, North Carolina, in 1877.

He died on June 29, 1901, in Saint John, New Brunswick.