The son of a confectioner in a religious house, the Cardinal Portocaro nearly persuaded young Corri to study for the priesthood; but his musical aptitude early asserting itself, he found himself in Naples, a pupil of Porpora.
In the house of this prince of singing masters—himself a pupil of Scarlatti and the world-renowned master of Mingotti and Farinelli—Corri boarded for five years (1763-1767), and chiefly owed his introduction into the best English society at Rome to the fame of Porpora and the estimation in which that great singer was held by a section of our nobility.
Around that time he moved to London and began publishing vocal music in Soho while retaining business premises in Edinburgh.
In this, the favorite concert hall in London at this time, Corri put together quite a contrasting program as the evening's entertainment: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater combined with a Ball.
[citation needed] Montague Corri, second son, born at Edinburgh, 1784, resided successively in Newcastle, Manchester, and Liverpool.