Composer and publisher. Born Lawrence Wright in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, the son of a music teacher. He learned to play the piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and viola as a boy and briefly performed with a concert group. In 1910 he published his first song, 'Don't Go Down the Mine, Daddy' and through dreadful coincidence it became his first million seller after two fatal mining disasters quickly followed its release. In 1912, he set up a one man music publishing house in London which he ran under his own name and contributed to under his new pen name Horatio Nicholls. His 1914 collaboration with lyricist Worton David, 'Are We Down Hearted? No!' became another smash as it was picked up by the troops departing for the trenches of the First World War. Nicholls signed on with the Royal Naval Air Service for the duration. After demobilization, he expanded his business to include a string of music shops from Blackpool to Wales. He initiated summer concerts at Blackpool's North Pier which played annually from 1925 to 1956. He also founded the music business newspaper 'The Melody Maker' in 1926. His music continued to be popular as well and included 'Shepherd of the Hills,' 'Plaything,' 'Amy, Wonderful Amy,' and 'Among My Souvenirs' which alone was covered by Hoagie Carmichael, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and became a million seller for Connie Francis. Either alone or in collaboration he wrote and published over five hundred songs. In 1943 he suffered a severe stroke and though he would remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, with eighteen months of effort he regained his speech and taught himself to write with his left hand. He would not retire until 1956. He was presented with an Ivor Novello Award in 1962 for 'outstanding service to British popular and light music.' After a bad fall in 1964 he was taken to hospital where he died at age 76.