Welcome to the Island Home of Bill Lorraine

Bill Lorraine, composer, writer, pianist, and sculptor, has made Key West his home for the past 25 years. He was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For the past five years, Bill Lorraine has lived a dual life, four months of the year working as a solo piano player for Royal Caribbbean Cruise Lines in Europe, and the other eight months living in Key West with his wife Ann, playing piano at hotels, restaurants and wedding parties in Key West, writing articles for the Solares Hill newspaper and workied as the on-air disc jockey and Classical Music Director for Clear Channel's WKEY radio, 93.5 FM.

Bill Lorraine is well known in Key West as a composer and songwriter. He has produced four CD's of his original music and one CD of his piano performance. All are presented for sale on this web site. You may listen to excerpts from a few songs before placing your order.

The manuscript scores from three of Lorraine's original musical compositions are available for sale on this web site, including his Oratorio "Lift Your Spirit" for orchestra, chorus and four soloists, "Fanfare to the Sun" for brass ensemble and "Rain" for solo piano.

Bill Lorraine's new book of poetry, "From the Balconies of Key West", is a collection of 59 poems and 31 penline illustrations by his wife Ann Lorraine. Lorraine's novel, "The Heat" will be published in the fall of 2004. Both these books will be available for sale on this web site, and excerpts from both books are presented on this site. A series of Lorraine's stories called "Working Vacations", published by the Solares Hill newspaper in Key West are presented herein Adobe PDF format free of charge.

Bill Lorraine's stone sculptures have been displayed and sold at art galleries and group shows in Key West, including the annual "Art in the Park" Sculpture Exhibition. Photos of some of his sculptures are shown here.

Bill Lorraine

Key West is a lot like every other American town of 30,000 population. The differences begin with the palm trees, the unusual abundance of flowers, and the tropical weather. But the biggest difference is the boundry line that forms a circle around the outskirts of our city. Most Americans can hop in their cars and drive into the country, but the ocean surrounds Key West, and the town takes up all the land area. Only a thin string of sandbars and mangrove islands connect it to the mainland 160 miles away.

Before Henry Flagler extended his Florida East Coast Railroad to Key West in 1912, the only way to get to the island was by boat. So the history of Key West is the history of people who had a strong connection to the ocean. Books on Key West's history talk about the wreckers, the spongers, the pirates, the Navy, the shrimpers and the boatbuilders. Many of the first residents were ship's carpenters who built their homes with highly elevated vantage points call "widows walks" which gave them an unobstructed view of the ocean. In their travels they brought back exotic tropical plant life from all parts of the world - flowering trees orchids, coconut palms, mahogany, Queen's unbrella trees, and flowers that bloomed all year long like Hibiscus and Bougainvilla.

Key West is located beside a natural coral reef that breaks the ocean's waves six miles out, giving Key Westers calm beaches and crystal-clear water at the shoreline.