Born in London, she was taught at the Royal College of Music by Miriam Timothy and made her professional debut as a harpist in Liverpool in 1910.
[1] In 1926 she married Frederick Laurence, initially a composer[2] and musical advisor to EMI who ended up as the impoverished librarian of the Proms and personnel manager for the National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestras.
She composed and performed the original harp introduction to the long-running radio soap opera Mrs Dale's Diary in 1948, played for many of the Carry On series of comedy films, and for Julie Andrews and Petula Clark when they were still child stars.
[6] And during the 1950s and 1960s she performed for many well-known names in light music and jazz: Stanley Black, Frank Chacksfield (solo harp on his 1953 hit Ebb Tide), Robert Farnon, Ted Heath, Geoff Love, Mantovani and Sidney Torch.
Marie Goossens was awarded an OBE in 1984, and her colourful autobiography, Life on a Harp String was published three years later.