Jan was born in Birmingham, England. At the age of seven she moved

with her family to Colwyn Bay in North Wales.

At this time she started to take piano lessons with her neighbor,

Margaret Owen. Jan soon became passionate about music and often

went back for many lessons in one day.

She soon began to compose her own tunes for the piano and songs

too.

Music and particularly the piano featured large in Jan's subsequent

schooling in Wales and also Sydney, Australia where her family

lived for a few years.

At age 18 Jan enrolled at the City of Leeds College of Music in the

north of England. There she studied jazz and light music in addition

to her classical music studies. She became a Graduate of the City of

Leeds College of Music (GCLCM) and a Licenciate of the London

Guildhall School of Music (LGSM). She also won the special Rose

Bowl prize awarded to the top graduating student in the music college.

Through the following summer, while waiting to commence studies at

a Reading teacher training college, Jan worked as a volunteer music

therapist at a hospital for the mentally handicapped in Leeds.

Her work produced spectacular results and a post was created for

her there.

She stayed on and worked at the hospital as a music therapist for a

number of years. During this time Jan also moved into the world of

professional music which took her into many different situations

including playing solo piano, singing, bandwork, teaching, theater,

composing, accompaniment, church music and music copying.

She continued to work for many years as a professional musician,

often playing abroad and on cruise ships. Composing was always

in the forefront of her musical activities.

In 1996 Jan moved to the United States with her family, having

always had an affinity with the country and its citizens and way

of life. She settled in Florida.

Her professional musical activities continued.

In 2002 Jan returned to the United Kingdom and attended the

University of Wales, earning her teaching certificate. She returned

to Florida in 2003 and stepped into her current teaching position

at Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale. She continues to happily

work there, teaching general music to Pre-K through 2nd Grade

and is thrilled to be so well supported at the school in her creative

endeavours.

Jan is music director at Community Church, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea

where she also finds tremendous support for her creativity.

On January 11th 2008 it was announced by Senator Tony Hill at the

FMEA convention in Tampa, that Jan's song, "Florida, Where the

Sawgrass Meets the Sky" was the winner of the 'Just Sing Florida'

competition, looking for a new Florida state song.

On May 1st 2008 Jan's song was accepted by the Florida Legislature

as the new official Florida State Anthem. The bill is about to be signed

into law by Governor Crist who is expected to take part in a signing

ceremony at Pine Crest School in the fall.